


A Love to Die For – How This Love Became

by BowserSpears



Series: Bowser X Luigi [1]
Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Mario Bros. (Video Games), Super Mario Odyssey (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Big Gay Love Story, Bullying, Character Death, Consensual Sex, Cute, Explicit Language, Finding true love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Homophobic Language, Implied Sexual Content, Love Story, M/M, Murder, Oral Sex, Romance, Sad, Temptation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2019-07-06 12:25:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15886020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BowserSpears/pseuds/BowserSpears
Summary: Bowser's deep, dark secret has recently been revealed: He's gay. However, he is not the only one who's been keeping a secret hidden away for years. Mario's brother/sidekick, Luigi, not only is also gay, but also has a huge crush on his brother's worst enemy! As the green plumber and the beast discover their true feelings for each other and secretly date behind closed doors, how will their loved ones treat them once they find out, especially Bowser's adoptive father/childhood caretaker, Kamek?





	1. I'll Be Here For You

**Author's Note:**

> **This story is a work of _FICTION._ A story centered around a _MALE HUMAN_ and a _MALE NON-HUMAN_ who has the _MIND_ of a _HUMAN._ In _NO WAY_ does this story promote beastiality in _ANY_ shape or form. I would _NEVER_ condone such a thing for real.**
> 
>  
> 
> **If you know for sure that you will not like this story, _DON'T READ IT._ In fact, I don't want you wasting your time reading this if you are _NOT_ enjoying it. Please, for my sake and your sake, go and read a story that you _WILL_ enjoy.**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Well, here it is: The beginning to the longest story that I'll probably ever write! If you happened to have read my first two stories, this one takes place even before the beast and the plumber ever considered marrying, or even dating, each other!
> 
> Just to mention, this story is kind of like my continuation to the events that took place right after Super Mario Odyssey. Also, unlike my previous works where they were uploaded all at once, this one will be updated little by little over a period of time, so be sure to keep checking back to see if new chapters were added!
> 
> Hope you enjoy reading this!

It has been hours since Mario, Peach, and their new friend, Cappy, have boarded the Odyssey and traveled back to Earth. Bowser, very sad and upset about his billionth failed attempt to kidnap and marry the princess of The Mushroom Kingdom, was, however, left behind and is still currently stranded in the Moon Kingdom with no way of returning home to his castle. His servants and kids, all knowing where their king said that he was going to be for the wedding, have not yet sent out somebody with an airship to pick him up, which infuriates Bowser tremendously.

After wandering aimlessly around the moon, finding absolutely no willing soul kind enough to transport him back to his kingdom on Earth, the distraught Koopa king begins to feel that he is about to lose his mind, becoming angrier and angrier by the second.

“I'm never gonna be able to marry Peach now!” Bowser states out loud to himself as he throws his clenched fists down to his sides, “It's hopeless! She doesn't even want to marry stupid Mario either!”

Ready to explode, Bowser stomps his foot on the ground as hard as he can and grabs a hold of his hair with both hands, repeatedly roaring and yelling, “She doesn't want to fucking marry anybody!!!” As he releases one last loud, rage-filled roar, he throws himself down onto the hard, rocky surface of the moon, landing flat on his behind.

After a few minutes of pouting and glaring down at the ground in silence, he tells himself, “I'm done with that bitch! I should've never have agreed to try and marry her.”

Bowser then takes another quick look around and scans the many craters and rock formations surrounding him, seeing no signs of life anywhere any longer. “I guess l have no choice but to just sit here and wait around some more for my troops to come and rescue me,” he tells himself as he stares up at Earth floating in the far distance, “If they ever will. I'm starting to wonder...”

Feeling completely abandoned, Bowser begins to tear up again and hangs his head in utter shame and despair, mumbling to himself, “Sometimes I wish I was never born...”

  


* * *

  


Back on Earth, as Luigi prepares for his journey to the Moon Kingdom, he straps on his silver travel case to his back and ties a few balloons around it, making him light enough to lift off the ground. After he puts on his favorite polka-dotted, lime green bow tie, he heads outside his house and leaps up off the ground as high as his legs will allow him to, with the wind calmly carrying him all the way to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere.

Once he has left his home planet and enters the stratosphere, he observes his surroundings and says to himself, “I never realized how peaceful and quiet it was up here in space.” As the plumber admires the many bright, shining stars that pass him by, he adds, “I actually feel like I can think clearly and gather my thoughts here.”

Luigi then pulls a map of the moon out of his pocket and begins to study it.

“Alright, so, I can hide some balloons here and there. Maybe some can go here as well...” He stops to ponder for a second and points to different places on the map, asking himself, “Maybe a few could go there as well?” The plumber takes a closer look at a collection of X's clustered together, and decides, “Nah, they would probably be too easy to find there.”

He reconsiders his decision and says, “Maybe, instead, they could-”

Luigi's thought becomes interrupted by the sound of a deep, loud, booming voice, echoing in the distance. Caught off guard, as well as being a bit frightened, he immediately puts down his map and looks down at the moon's surface miles below him.

“Is that Bowser?” Luigi asks himself.

Sure enough, the plumber notices the spiky-shelled Koopa sitting on the moon all alone, sobbing miserably to himself.

Luigi thinks for a minute, and then says, “Maybe I should go down there and see if he needs any help?” He briefly scans the area below him and soon discovers that Bowser doesn't have an airship nearby. “He looks like he's stuck here.”

_This could be a good time to finally tell Bowser how you really feel about him._

He quickly disregards that idiotic thought and tells himself, “No, not this time. He really needs help more than anything right now.”

The plumber then steadily lowers himself down in front of the despondent beast.

As Bowser starts to feel Luigi's presence, he slowly removes his hands from his face and looks up at the figure standing in front of him. Surprised, and a little startled, to see somebody that he knows standing here on the moon with him, the miserable Koopa immediately stops himself from crying and wipes away the tears from his eyes and cheeks.

“Green 'Stache?! G- Goddammit, you scared me half to death!” Bowser tells Luigi, “W- What are you doing here?”

“I came to set up for an event for The Mushroom Kingdom and saw you down here all by yourself."

Bowser, still sniffling, utters, “Oh.”

“Is everything okay?” Luigi asks, sounding very concerned.

“Oh yeah, fine! Everything here is just peachy!” Bowser answers sarcastically. He then looks down at the ground and begins to tear up again.

Luigi knows that when Bowser uses words like _peachy_ , it means that Peach has rejected him again.

Still very stunned to see the beast so sad instead of only angry for once, the plumber asks, “Bowser, have you been crying?”

“N- No!” Bowser snarls, looking Luigi directly in the eye, “And even if I was, what's it to you anyway?!”

“N- Nothing! I- I'm just worried about you is all.”

Bowser snorts in disgust and crosses his arms, insisting, “Yeah, well, I don't need your sympathy.”

He then lets out a long sigh and hangs his head down in shame again, mumbling underneath his breath, “I don't need anything from anyone anymore...”

Not sure of what else to say or do, the green plumber decides to gingerly sit himself down on the ground in front of the pouting beast.

After sharing a minute of awkward silence with each other, Bowser asks, “Why did you say you were here again, Greenie?”

Ignoring the fact that the Koopa still cannot recall his name, Luigi tells him, “Like I said, I'm supposed to be setting up for an event for The Mushroom Kingdom that I like to call _Luigi's Balloon World_.”

Bowser raises an eyebrow at the plumber, a bit curious as to what _Luigi's Balloon World_ is about.

“Well, I go around the world and hide balloons throughout each kingdom involved in the event, and whoever can find the most balloons wins a million coins and dinner with the princess.”

Loathing the fact that Luigi mentioned Peach, Bowser asks, almost shooing him away, “Well, why aren't you out there setting up for this big event then?!”

“Because,” he pauses, looking deep into the monstrous beast's despairing eyes, “This is more important to me right now.”

“Why are you being so nice to me, Green 'Stache?” Bowser asks, a little suspicious of the plumber's kindhearted gestures, “Are you up to something?”

“N- No, of course not."

“Good,” Bowser says, putting his suspicions aside, “Well, then why are you being nice to me?”

“I don't know. I guess when I see someone whose feeling down or in pain, I just feel like I should try and help them in some way, if they need it.”

Bowser mutters, “Oh,” again as his only response.

After sharing another minute of awkward silence between them, Luigi takes another quick look around and mentions, “It doesn't look like you have any way of getting home.”

“I know, I don't.”

Becoming riled up again, Bowser starts to pout again and says childishly, “Stupid Mario pushed me off to the side and he and stupid Peach took off in their Odyssey, or whatever that damn thing is called, and left me stranded here on the goddamn moon!”

“Well, why don't I take you back to your castle then?” Luigi offers, “That is, if you even want my help.”

Bowser says nothing in return.

“I- It's no trouble, really. I can always come back here and set up for the event later, you know?”

Bowser, still a bit suspicious of Luigi being so nice to him, feels too relieved to pass up the plumber's offer.

“I'd like that, Green 'Stache.”

Luigi then promptly stands up and leaps off of the moon's surface, levitating only a few feet above Bowser's head.

“Grab on,” he orders, indicating for Bowser to grab a hold of his legs.

The Koopa does just that, and then they safely float their way back into Earth's atmosphere without saying another word to each other.

_Maybe now this is the time to tell Bowser how you truly feel about him._

Luigi immediately tries to clear that reoccurring thought out of his mind and forces himself to focus on his current mission.

Bowser, lost in his own head, thinks, _I'm really surprised Mario's brother wants to help me out right now, especially after how I've treated him over the years. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's kinda nice, actually._

He stops to seriously think for a minute, trying to remember Luigi's name.

_Dammit, what's his name again? Leroy, or something?_

  


* * *

  


Once Bowser's Kingdom appears in sight, the plumber brings them down for a landing in front of the tall, brown and gold, metal doors leading to the inside of The Koopa King's massive, towering castle.

After they have both landed safely onto the ground, Luigi announces, “Well, here we are.”

“Yep, we're here.”

Amazed by how unfamiliar the Koopa’s realm looks to him, the plumber says, “Wow, this place sure looks a lot different since the last time I was here.”

He then examines the lush, flowering terrain and colorful, imposing structures, capturing the strange beauty that Bowser's land is emanating.

Totally speechless, Luigi tries to search for the words to express his admiration for the beast's complete overhaul to his kingdom.

“It's amazing. It's beautiful, even,” he comments in awe, “And that's quite an understatement.”

“Yeah, I know,” Bowser states, indulging the plumber's compliments to his land, “I began to not like how things looked. Too depressing. It's definitely a step up from what it used to look like, huh?”

“I'll say,” Luigi utters, still lost in the kingdom's newfound charm and appeal that it brings.

Luigi then awkwardly chuckles a little and takes off his hat to scratch the back of his head.

“Listen, Bowser,” he begins, staring deeply into the beast's scarlet red eyes, “If there's anything else that you need help with, don't be afraid to ask. **I'll be here for you.”**

“I'll keep that in mind,” Bowser replies, also staring intently at the human's big, shining, bright blue eyes.

After a few more seconds of silence and becoming lost into each other's eyes, Luigi snaps himself out of his trance, clears his throat, and says, “Well, goodbye Bowser."

“Goodbye-” he stops, trying to recall the plumber's name one last time.

“Luis?”

“Luigi."

“Right, Luigi! That's what it is! I- I knew it was something along those lines."

Wihout saying another word, Luigi then puts his cap back on and carefully walks over the bridge surrounded by purple, goopy, poisonous water, beginning to take off for the Moon Kingdom once again.

“Wait!” Bowser shouts.

Luigi quickly turns himself back around in Bowser's direction and finds him standing inside his castle with the front door still open slightly.

“I've hardly ever said this to anybody before, but-” he pauses, trying to sound as sincere as he possibly can, “Thank you, Luigi.”

Shocked to have just heard Bowser say the two words he thought he was incapable of ever saying, Luigi smiles and says, “You're welcome, Bowser. Anytime.”

The Koopa King smiles back as Luigi continues his journey back to the Moon Kingdom, waving to Bowser as he floats higher and higher into the evening sky. Bowser gives a small wave back and then looks away, slowly walking into his castle and shutting the doors behind him.

  


* * *

  


Later on that night, Bowser goes to the desk in his bedroom and pulls out his secret diary. As he opens to a new, blank page, he writes:

_Something crazy happened today, diary: Mario's brother, Luigi, actually helped me. Out of the goodness of his own heart, or whatever, he rescued me from being stranded in the Moon Kingdom! Hardly ever has anybody, besides my kids, wanted to willingly help me, and without being told to do so too. He even offered to help me out the next time I need some help with, well, something!_

Realizing something weird, the Koopa stops to think of how to word his next sentence. He then writes down:

_It's bizarre though, ever since he saved me today, I haven't been able to take my mind off of him. When I looked into his eyes, it was like he was the most important person to me, besides myself, of course. It was like, nothing else mattered to me in that moment, other than just being there with him._

Bowser then laughs to himself and adds on:

_I don't know, maybe I'm still experiencing Space Madness from being stuck on the moon for so long, or something like that._

As he starts to close his diary, The Koopa King stops and groans, forcing himself to write down the last thought that has come to his mind. In small print on the corner of the page, he writes:

_ I really hope we cross paths again soon. _

He then quickly slams the book shut and puts it back in its designated drawer before he can scratch that last thought out.

After a few minutes of sitting at his desk and mindlessly daydreaming about his green-clad savior, Bowser lets out a long sigh and rubs his aching forehead, feeling very stressed out from the events that took place today.

He then decides that it's time to go to bed early.

As he slips into bed and turns off the lights, he continues to have confusing and conflicting thoughts about wanting to see Luigi again, as well as developing a new feeling for the plumber that scares him a little inside.

 _Is it love?_ Bowser thinks to himself, _No, that's silly! I mean, come on, me falling in love with Mario's brother? How obscured!_

He then grumbles to himself and buries his face into his pillow, thinking, _C'mon Bowser, stop being so stupid! We've been over this, you're into girls. You are into girls, for God's sake!_

Eventually, Bowser drifts off into a pretty restless sleep and dreams about his new _friend._


	2. I Thought I Could Trust Him

Almost three months have gone by since Luigi saved Bowser from being stranded on the moon. Since then, the two have become quite acquainted with each other. You could even say they have become good friends.

Whenever there was a baseball game, a tennis match, a Mario Party, or even a Double Dash kart event, the green plumber and the beast would team up and kill the competition together.

All seems pretty well between The Mushroom Kingdom and The Koopa Kingdom. Bowser has not tried _once_ to kidnap or marry the princess, nor has he tried to take over her kingdom.

In fact, The Koopa King hasn't caused terror anywhere in the world _at all._

Residents in The Mushroom Kingdom have speculated that Bowser has finally put his evil ways and diabolical plans to the past, possibly for good. Many of those speculators, though, are suspicious of Bowser's recent good behavior, but everyone is too relieved to no longer feel the need to live in constant fear of him that nobody questions it.

Nobody, except for one person: Mario.

  


* * *

  


“Something doesn't seem right here, Luigi...”

“What's the matter, Mario?”

“Haven't you noticed?”

Luigi simply shrugs his shoulders, not really sure what Mario is talking about.

“Bowser hasn't tried to kidnap Peach or take over her kingdom in months!”

Aware of the lack of cheerfulness in his brother's voice, Luigi asks, “Aren't you happy though, Mario? This is what you, me, and everyone else has ever wanted! For Bowser to put an end to his evilness!”

“I bet he's planning something big this time,” Mario says, ignoring Luigi's question, “Bigger than last time, even!”

“I don't know, Mario. Maybe he's just taking a break, you know? I mean, he has an entire kingdom to run all by himself, and on top of that, he has kids to take care of.”

“Hmph. I doubt it.”

“Or maybe he's, you know, finally given up on trying to marry the princess?”

“I doubt that too, Luigi,” Mario disagrees, chuckling a little at his brother's last suggestion, “Bowser is one persistent Koopa. You remember? He made it very clear to us that he would continue to kidnap and try to marry Peach until he pulled it off.”

“Maybe he was bluffing?”

“I don't think so. He said that losing was never an option for him. Remember?”

Fresh out of suggestions, Luigi just shrugs his shoulders again.

Suspecting that his brother might be hiding something from him, Mario questions Luigi, “He never mentioned anything to you about any plans on visiting The Mushroom Kingdom anytime soon, did he?”

“No, Mario. Nothing like that at all.”

“Honest?”

“Honest to goodness, Mario,” Luigi answers truthfully.

Mario then puts his hands on his hips and shakes his head, uttering, “I don't know then. I still feel like Bowser is up to no good...”

“Well, what do you suggest we do then, Mario?”

The red plumber looks up into the bright, blue, later summer sky and formulates an idea in his head.

After a few seconds, he announces, “I say we should sneak into his castle and try to find some evidence that he's planning something.”

“Wait, we?”

“Yes Luigi, _we,”_ Mario insists, “What, you've got somewhere to be with your _boyfriend_ right now?”

“I've told you a thousand times, Mario, Bowser is _not_ my boyfriend!“ Luigi snaps, his face turning beet red from a combination of irritation and embarrassment.

“Calm down, Luigi! I know he's not your boyfriend! I'm just joking, that's all. You know that!” Mario says, laughing at his brother's sharp remark.

“I know. It's just, he's my friend now and I wouldn't feel right snooping around his castle.”

“May I remind you, little bro, that we are talking about the Koopa who has abducted our friends, including us, terrorized the entire world, no, the entire universe, and has even went out of his way to try and kill us so we couldn't interfere with his evil schemes?”

Realizing that his older brother is ever so right, Luigi rolls his eyes and unwillingly agrees to help. “Okay, Mario. I'll help you.”

“Thank you, Luigi! I appreciate it.”

“So, what's the plan then?”

“Well, I overheard Bowser mention a while ago that his two youngest sons have a little league game later on today, which means that everyone will be out of the castle.”

Mario cracks a smile and continues, “That's where we come in.”

As Mario explains his plan to Luigi, the green plumber hesitantly nods to everything his brother tells him, thinking how much he would like to ditch right about now.

“We'll bring along a couple of Super Bells and transform into our cat forms, which will make it easier for us to climb up the side of Bowser's castle and sneak in through his bedroom window without being caught by his guards.”

“That sounds like a good plan, Mario,” Luigi lies, “But, there's just one problem.”

“What's that?”

“Bowser invited me to come along and watch the game with him and his kids.”

“Just tell him that you're sick or something. Problem solved!”

Luigi closes his eyes, shakes his head, and lets out a sigh of displeasure, wishing so much that he didn't have to lie to his new friend. “Alright, Mario. I'll tell him I'm not going.”

“Okie dokie, then let's get a move on!”

  


* * *

  


Once Mario and Luigi have successfully sneaked into Bowser's bedroom without being seen, Mario turns around and takes a look out the window, noticing a cluster of tall, grey, storm clouds in the near distance.

“We might want to hurry, Luigi. It looks like it may start pouring down any minute now, and Bowser and his family are not too far from here.”

After the red plumber has shut the window behind him, he turns back around to face his younger brother and orders, “Okay little bro, you take this side of his bedroom, while I take this side. Find anything that looks suspicious. Got it?”

“Got it, Mario.”

As Mario looks around inside Bowser's writing desk, he eventually finds his secret diary. He then flips to a random entry and reads:

_Well diary, this is it. I give up. For once in my life, I've decided to give up. This has been the millionth-billionth time I have tried to marry Peach, and quite frankly, I've had enough of it. I've had enough of failing. It's never going to work between us. I see that now. Maybe it's time I start focusing on what's most important to me._

“Mario, come take a look at this!” Luigi whispers loudly.

Mario stops reading and prowls over to Luigi, who is crouched down beside Bowser's king-size bed.

“What the heck is this?” He asks, knowing full well of what his brother is showing him, “A dirty magazine?”

“Open it up."

As Mario reluctantly takes the old, dated magazine from Luigi's hand and opens it, what he sees utterly surprises him.

Flipping through page after page of a wide variety of Koopas and humans in suggestive and overly sexual poses, it is immediately brought to the plumber’s attention that this magazine, among the many others that Bowser has hoarded under his bed, is filled with nothing but nude, buff, men, not women like he expected there to be.

“Unbelievable,” Mario states in total shock, “Bowser is actually _gay!”_

“It sure looks that way."

“He was _never_ attracted to the princess! All those years of chasing after Peach and then pining over being rejected by her didn't mean a thing!”

Before Luigi can say anything back, the brothers' thoughts become interrupted by the sound of a fierce, roaring clap of thunder. They then both direct their attention back over to the bedroom window, realizing that they have both lost track of time.

“Uh, Mario? How long has it been raining like that?”

Before Mario can get the chance to speak, suddenly, the door to Bowser's bedroom swings wide open, as Bowser himself, drenched in rain water, stomps in, clearly upset about the storm.

He then stops dead in his tracks as he sees his worst enemy and his secret crush sitting on the floor near his bed, holding two of his porno magazines, as well as his diary laying by their side.

“What is going on in here?! How the hell did you two get into my castle?!”

“Oh, ciao Bowser! H- How did your boys' game go?” Mario asks, as anxiety shoots through him and Luigi like a Bullet Bill.

“How do you think it went?!” Bowser shouts as he raises his arms up, water dripping profusely down to the floor, “Me and everyone else came home early soaking wet from the damn storm, so what the hell do you think, dumbass?!”

Narrowing his fiery red eyes down onto the two brothers, he asks again, “You didn't answer my question though. What the fuck are you two doing in _my_ castle, and in _my_ bedroom!?”

As Mario and Luigi search for the words to explain their presence, Bowser takes note of what exactly the two brothers are holding in their hands and blushes hard from embarrassment.

“What are you doing going through my personal things?!”

Mario and Luigi then act fast.

In an instant, they both drop the magazines to the floor as Mario quickly snatches Bowser's diary and throws it at his face, hitting him square in the snout.

As Bowser holds onto his nose and growls in pain, the two plumbers, still in their cat outfits, sprint past the beast and pounce out of his master bedroom, clawing any guards that stand in their way.

Instead of chasing after them, Bowser slams his door shut and locks it. He then leans against the door with one hand and dips his head down in total mortification.

“I can't believe it. My secret is out. They know everything now,” he whispers to himself.

Bowser then slowly crawls into a corner of his bedroom and retreats into his shell, something he only ever does when feeling threatened or extremely depressed or embarrassed.

_My life is over. Mario and Luigi are going to tell everyone my secret. They're going to expose the true me to everybody in The Mushroom Kingdom. To the whole world. That I was never attracted to Peach. That I was never attracted to any women._

Bowser then starts to sniffle as tears begin to trickle down his cheek.

_I thought I could trust Luigi. How could he have done this to me? I thought he was my friend. To think that I hoped he felt the same way I felt about him, and that we could've been more than just friends._

What seems like a million thoughts race through his mind, Bowser begins to sob, trying his best to keep his voice down so nobody near his room hears him.

As he lies there inside his shell, still wet from the rain and now from his own tears, he replays this particular thought over and over in his head:

_**I thought I could trust him.** I really did._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a side note, when I had the idea for this story, it was well before I found out that the Koopa Kids are, apparently, not Bowser's children anymore (Miyamoto, I'm very sorry, but wut?). I didn't really want to change the entire storyline by changing their relationship status with Bowser, so they are still considered his kids here, along with Bowser Jr, of course.


	3. We Can Make This Work

_Come on Luigi, you can do this. Just knock and see if he's home. What’s the worst that could happen?_

As Luigi knocks on the front door to Bowserʼs castle, much to his surprise, The King of Koopas himself answers.

“What the hell do you want?” He asks with a grim expression across his face.

“Bowser, I-”

“You know, you've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here after what you and your idiot brother did to me!”

“Bowser, please listen to me,” Luigi begs, “I just came here to talk to you and try to apologize for what happened the other day.”

“You came here to apologize? To me?”

Luigi nervously bites his lower lip and nods his head, preparing for the worst to happen.

“You've got to be kidding me!” Bowser shouts at the already uneasy plumber, “What you and Mario did to me is unforgivable! I mean really, sneaking into a kingʼs castle to snoop around and look through his personal belongings. Thatʼs pretty damn low, even for you two!”

“I know what we did was wrong Bowser, but please! I- Iʼm sorry! Iʼm truly, sincerely sorry!”

Without giving it a second thought, The Koopa King begins to back into his humble fortress and mutters, “Apology not accepted.”

Before he can slam the door on Luigi, the plumber grabs the edge of the sturdy, metal door and asks, “There must be something I can do to, you know, make it up to you?”

“Yeah, by getting the hell out of here and never showing your stupid face anywhere near my kingdom ever again!”

Taking note of the volume of his voice, Bowser peers behind his spiked shell and spots a squad of Hammer Bros. marching by within earshot of the argument.

“Besides, Iʼm sure you and Mario have already told everyone in The Mushroom Kingdom my secret,” he mumbles, “That big, bad, King Koopa is really attracted to _men.”_

“Trust me, Mario and I are _not_ the kind of guys to go around and gossip about other peopleʼs personal business,” Luigi insists, “We did _not_ tell anyone your secret.”

“Hmph. Like I should believe you.”

“I’m telling you the truth, Bowser! I donʼt care if you like men, and neither does Mario. Nobody should care about that! Who you like is your business and no one elseʼs!”

“Then explain to me why you and your brother were going through my stuff?”

“Because, well… and this was all Marioʼs idea, by the way. I didn't want to do this, but he dragged me along and-“

“Get to the damn point!” Bowser yells, clicking his sharp toe claws impatiently onto the ground.

Inhaling a deep breath to help relax himself, the extremely anxious plumber tries his best to explain the situation from the other day.

“Mario thought that you might have been secretly planning a huge attack on The Mushroom Kingdom, since you haven’t done anything bad in months. He thought that it would be a good idea to scope out your castle and look for clues that may have hinted at you planning something, so we could be ready for when it happens.”

“Well, you and your dumbass brother were wrong this time, Green ‘Stache. For your information, I was never planning to attack _anywhere!_ I've been too busy running and bettering my own kingdom and troops, spending more time with my kids, and even working on myself some.”

Standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a cold glare on his face, he adds, “And I thought I had made a new friend, but now I'm not too sure.”

“I _am _still your friend, Bowser!” Luigi urges as he sighs in frustration, “May I please just come in so we can talk about this like two civil human and Koopa beings?”__

____

Tired of standing around and arguing with his worst enemy's brother, Bowser throws his arms down to his sides and groans, deciding to give into Luigi's pleas for trust.

“Fine! You may enter my castle, I guess...”

Before Luigi has a chance to react, Bowser immediately pulls him up by his blue overalls and brings the frightened plumber right up to his brutish face.

“But donʼt you dare pull any more tricks on me!” He snarls as his eyes start to glow brighter than a fireball, “If I catch you sneaking around my castle again, I will _not_ hesitate in throwing your ass into one of my dungeon cells! Got it?!”

“Y- Yes, sir! Got it, sir!” Luigi acknowledges, rapidly nodding his head in fear.

Once the flames in his pupils disperse, Bowser sets the short, timid human back down to the ground as calmly and carefully as he can.

“Alright. Come on in.”

  


* * *

  


After Luigi has entered the Koopa’s enormous and strangely enchanting castle, Bowser inconspicuously escorts him into the dining area so they can speak together in private.

“So... Bowser,” Luigi begins as he takes a seat at the long dining table, “As you know, Mario and I know your secret. That, you know... you're gay.”

“Duh, of course I know! We were just talking about it a minute ago!”

“Well, I just thought that since I know something about you that I shouldn't, I thought that I would share a secret about myself, so that way, we would sort of be even.”

“That seems fair, I guess.”

As he gathers up the courage to spill the big news, Luigi stutters and stumbles over his words for a full minute with no luck.

“Well, out with it! I donʼt got all day long to be here chatting with you!” Bowser growls, becoming testier as each second ticks by.

With his thoughts racing around a mile a minute, Luigi takes in a huge breath and blurts out, “My secret is… I- I’m also gay.”

Unable to believe what he had just heard, Bowser stares at the plumber in total amazement as his eyes widen to the size of red coins.

“But, it goes even further than that...”

“What do you mean?”

As sweat beads form around his forehead and his heart pumps faster and faster, Luigi wipes his brow, locks eyes with the beast, and reveals something that he never thought in his young life he would _ever_ hear himself say.

“Bowser... _I'm in love with you!”_

The plumber then buries his face into his gloved hands, as his cheeks radiate a bright, vibrant shade of pink. 

Instead of making fun of him or lashing out at him, like Luigi expected, Bowser stays quiet as joy overthrows every other emotion inside his mind.

_Yes! I can’t freakin' believe what I am hearing! He loves me! Someone I love actually loves me back! Screw what he did to me, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for for months!_

Trying his best to keep his composure, Bowser laughs a hearty guffaw and, in an almost teasing manner, asks, “So Greenie, you’re in love with ol' King Koopa, huh?”

“Yes, I am,” Luigi murmurs, “I have been for a long time now.”

“Well, tell me then,” Bowser snickers as he leans back into the king's chair and rests a big, scaly foot on the edge of the table, “What is it about me that you find so attractive? As if I can already guess.”

Very steadily, the plumber removes his hands from his still reddened face and turns his attention onto the smug Koopa, who is patiently waiting to be showered with compliments.

“Well, a lot of things actually. I mean, for one, you're just so tall and so strong. In fact, you're the strongest person I know. You can lift a Thwomp up off the ground and throw it _thirty feet_ with almost _no_ effort! That's incredible! And you've also got that rough and tough attitude, like you’re ready to take on any challenge that comes at you. I’m pretty attracted to someone who’s like that because, well, Iʼm not all that tough myself. I mean, I can be when I need to be, but most times, I’m kind of a coward.”

While the conceited king sits back with a smirk across his face, enjoying each and every second of this moment, his ego and self-pride slowly but surely inflates with each kind word and compliment said to him. Every so often, he responds with an “I see” or an “Of course,” followed by a chuckle.

“I never thought I’d ever find myself attracted to a Koopa, but I have to admit, there’s times where I can’t seem to take my eyes off of your long, flowing, red hair, or your tall, burly, muscular body," Luigi continues to gush, revealing every thought and feeling that has ever crossed his mind, "Even things like your voice get me. I mean, when youʼre not angry and yelling or roaring, your voice, dare I say, turns me on sometimes. Itʼs just so deep and gruff, and I kind of like that.”

Bowser then, on purpose, bellows out a low, seductive laugh, which causes Luigi to shiver and tremble as goosebumps appear all over his body.

“But you know what gets me the most? Your eyes. Your beautiful, fiery, scarlet red eyes. Every time I look into them, you know what I see? I see pain. I see pain from years of desperately chasing after someone who you, me, and everyone else knew did not love you back. And even though she may never love you, I will. You may have done horrible and evil things in the past, but you still deserve to have somebody who truly loves you and cares about you, and I want to be that somebody. I want to be with you Bowser. I want to show you that I love you.”

Completely lost for words, the beast continues to stare down at the plumber as he processes just how passionate and truthful his words are.

“So... yeah. That's about it,” Luigi announces as he awkwardly wraps up his big speech, “I find you attractive and Iʼm falling for you. So, what do you think?”

“You wanna know what I think?”

As he sets himself back into a normal sitting position, Bowser pulls his chair in closer, places a beefy hand on the plumber's gloved mitts, and says, “I am quite flattered.”

"You are?" Luigi asks, cracking a small smile.

“While everything you said about me is true: The good looks, the tough attitude, and the extraordinary strength. No one has ever spoken to me with such kind words before.”

“Really?”

“Nope. Not even Clawdia, my first wife, had ever complimented me like you just did...”

“Bowser, I'm sorry. I really am. I wish I had never did what I did to you, but there's nothing I can do about it now. What's done is done. And if you don't want to forgive me, that's fine. I'll understand.”

“Don't worry about it, Greenie,” Bowser assures, delicately patting the plumber on the shoulder, “It's alright. I forgive you.”

“You do?”

“Mmhmm. I'm not one to forgive and forget so easily, but I do _this_ time. If you wouldn't have helped your brother out with his harebrained scheme, as cruel and ignorant as it was, knowing you, you would've _never_ had the courage to tell me how you really felt about me. Hell, I'm not even sure if _I_ would've had the courage to come out to you like you just did with me. So, I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I'm actually kinda glad you did what you did.”

Luigi then beams from ear to ear, his hopes of dating his one and only crush shooting up to the many galaxies in space.

“But listen, Luigi,” Bowser continues, “Even if we were to, y'know, give us a chance-”

“Youʼre worried about what everyone will think of you?”

“Exactly. I donʼt think my father would ever approve of this. In fact, I know he wouldn't...”

“Yeah, I bet Mario would think that I was insane if he ever found out that I was dating you.”

“I could imagine...”

“But you know what? I donʼt care what he thinks!” Luigi exclaims as he pounds his fist down onto the dinner table, “I am my own person, and I donʼt need his approval for anything! I really want you Bowser.”

“I want you too, Luigi, but what about-”

 **“We can make this work!** If your father or anyone else wonders, we’ll just tell them that we’ve made up and that we’re friends again!”


	4. No One Is Gonna Find Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the thing. I created two different versions of this chapter: An explicit version and a non-explicit version. I decided to take a risk and go with the more explicit storyline, which means that the rating had to be changed to Mature.
> 
> Don't worry though, this will more than likely be the most graphic chapter in the whole story, and I'm also sparing you a lot of the details too (because quite honestly, not even _I_ want to come up with and write down the details for this particular scene).
> 
> Just a side note, I've never written anything quite like this before, so I really hope that this goes well and you all still like it!

It is official: Luigi, the brother and sidekick to the hero of The Mushroom Kingdom, and Bowser, the beastly king of the Koopas, are dating.

Ever since that memorable day, the plumber and the beast have been inseparable, spending every day together while keeping a low profile to the public about their real status with each other.

Their closet relationship is going just as planned. Everybody is convinced that the two have simply made up and are friends again.

No one seems to suspect a thing.

As the days go on, Bowser and Luigi grow a bond much stronger than they ever have with any of their past lovers. Even though the two may not see eye to eye with everything and have quite a few different interests from each other, they have found that they still have a lot in common, both liking the same shows and the same books, as well as opening each other up to new things.

They even both share the same dirty sense of humor, much to Bowser’s surprise.

In the meantime, the plumber has also been teaching the beast how to act more like a gentlemen, showing him the importance of coping with and controlling his temper, appearing more thoughtful and caring towards other people outside his family, and showing him that he cannot always get his way, regardless of being the king of an entire realm.

Surprisingly, Bowser appears to be very receptive about taking his boyfriend’s advice in trying to better himself. Not even Princess Peach had the patience to try and get through to the Koopa, despite trying countless times over the years while being held in captivity.

Luigi's good influence and positive energy has even made an impact on the king's children, as they have all been less likely to act out as often as before and have been kinder to one another.

All in all, things are going very well for the plumber and the beast.

  


* * *

  


One late evening, as Bowser settles in for the day, he notices the faint sound of scratching and clawing coming from the side of his bedroom.

Tip-toeing over to the wall to investigate, the Koopa becomes startled by a familiar blue-eyed, brown-mustached face suddenly appearing in the window.

As the green, cat-like figure clinging to the outside wall gently knocks on the glass, Bowser chuckles to himself and lifts the window pane up out of the way.

“Luigi! You made it!”

“Of course I did!”

“Quick, get in before someone sees.”

As quickly and carefully as he can, Luigi positions himself on top of the window sill and pounces nimbly over Bowser's writing desk, landing right into his private chamber. He then stands up from being on all fours and gives his big man a big, furry hug.

“Quite an entrance there, Green 'Stache.”

“Well, you can thank Mario for giving me the idea to do this.”

Sharing together a good laugh about that, Bowser adds, “You gotta admit though, it _was_ a clever idea.”

After Bowser has closed the window behind him and has helped his plumber boyfriend out of his cat suit, they slip into the beast's cozy, king-size bed, where they snuggle under the covers and watch television together.

As time files by and the two lovebirds talk, laugh, and just enjoy each other's company, Bowser, unable to contain himself any longer, turns over onto his side and stares deeply into Luigi's shimmering, sky blue eyes.

He then emits a low, soothing _ooh_ , followed by a soft, grumbling sound, a sound that he and his species make when coaxing their significant other to fool around with them.

Staring back at the beast with a small grin, the plumber giggles to himself and asks, “What’s that all about?”

“I’ve been thinking. It’s been almost two weeks since we started dating and, I know we’re trying to take things very slow, but, I really think it’s time for us to take our relationship to the next level.”

“You mean…?”

Bowser cracks a wide, toothy smile and slowly nods his head.

“I really wish we could, Bow Bow,” Luigi admits as he delicately runs a finger down the Koopa’s smooth, soft belly pad, “But, I just don’t know how we would ever get away with it. You know I don’t have a double bed at my place. And if were to, you know, do it here, somebody will surely find out what we’re doing.”

 **“No one’s gonna find out,** Luigi. Trust me.”

“I don’t know… what if someone walks past your room?”

“Don't worry about that. Everyone's busy running errands for me right now, and I sent the guards to monitor things from other parts of the castle, so I really doubt that'll happen.”

“Well, what if one of your kids hear us?”

“Oh, they won’t hear us! I can bet you that, right now, Ludwig is up in his room composing music, Wendy’s on the phone with her friends, Iggy’s working on some crazy experiment or something, and the rest are all playing video games together.”

Realizing that it is getting harder and harder for him to resist the temptation, Luigi soon finds himself lost in The Koopa King’s scaly but strangely appealing, solid, muscular figure.

As the plumber steadily gazes further down his man’s body, excitement begins to swell up inside of him, while his heart rhythmically beats to the _thump, thump, thump_ of Bowser's tail hitting the edge of the bed.

Suddenly feeling something repeatedly jabbing him in the leg, Luigi then pulls the sheets away from Bowser's waist, his eyes immediately locking onto the Koopa's remarkably large and erect sex organ.

_Oh my... it's bigger than I anticipated._

“C'mon, let’s just go for it,” Bowser purrs, “No one will hear us.”

_Come on, Luigi, do it. You've been wanting this for a long while now. Don't worry about what could happen. That's not important right now. Do it. Just do it for goodness sake!_

Without assessing the situation any further, the plumber sits up into bed and smiles back at the smirking beast, smiling wider than he has ever smiled before.

“Alright. _Let’s do it.”_

Little by little, Luigi begins to slowly pull off all but his plain white boxers as Bowser removes his spiked bracelets and collar.

“I- I’m pretty nervous, Bowser,” the plumbers stops and stutters out, “This will be the first time I’ve ever had relations with a man, let alone a Koopa.”

“This’ll be my first time with a guy too,” Bowser replies, sharing the same amount of nervousness.

“Will you... promise you'll go easy on me?”

As he takes and delicately kisses the plumber's hands, Bowser looks directly into his pupils and says very sincerely, “I promise.”

"But... can we do things _my_ way?"

"Absolutely."

After the beast pops off his hard, clunky shell, exposing the slight hump on his rough, muscular back, and then gently takes off the plumber's underwear, Bowser then turns off the TV, dims the lights, and _they begin._

  


* * *

  


“Hey Wendy, you seen dad anywhere? I need to ask him something.”

“Roy, hush! I’m on the phone!”

“Fine. Be that way. I’ll look for him myself.”

With no help from his younger sister, the young, teenaged Koopa decides to check the one place his father typically hangs out during the evening hours of the day: His bedroom.

He climbs upstairs to the third floor of the castle and strolls down the long, quiet, empty hallway, taking note of the absence of soldiers or troops marching by. 

_That's strange. Aren't there usually, like, a couple of guards or something up here?_

As Roy walks up to his dad's bedroom door and begins to knock, he overhears something that sounds very peculiar to him.

“What’s going on in there?” He whispers to himself.

The Koopaling then lightly presses the side of his head onto the door to listen in, hearing a second, albeit muffled, voice besides his dad’s that sounds awfully familiar.

“Aw, _shit!_ I'm so close!” He hears his father cry out.

After all of the commotion has died down, the intense roaring, moaning, and creaking from the mattress, the voice in suspicion becomes much more audible.

“Damn, Bowser. You got it in my eye.”

“Eh, you'll live.”

“It’s all over my hair and everything.”

Frantically searching through his memory to fit that other voice with a face, reality suddenly hits Roy faster than a Chargin Chuck.

“No. No, it can’t be. It _can’t_ be!”

Without thinking it through first, the adolescent Koopa barges into the bedroom and brightens the lights, witnessing a sight that he will never be able to forget for the rest of his young life.

“Dad?!”

 _“Roy!”_ Bowser exclaims as he sits up straight into bed, hastily covering his exposed genitals with a pillow.

_“Luigi?!”_

As he wipes away the fluids from his face and rubbernecks to look at the purple-shelled figure standing in the doorway, Luigi, reacting as fast as his panicking mind will let him, clumsily throws himself out of bed, picks up whatever clothes are within reach and then sprints right into the bathroom, quickly locking the door behind him.

 _“What_ the _hell_ is going on, dad?!”

Unable to give an explanation to his terrified, confused, and enraged teenage son, Bowser stammers out nothing but nonsense.

“Were you two just _fucking_ in here?!”

“Roy, watch your language!”

Standing in the doorway with his eyes widened and his mouth gaped open, Roy mutters, “Oh my god. I can’t believe this. I thought you two were just friends-”

“Roy-“

“And now I walk in here to find Mario’s brother _sucking_ you off?! I _knew_ it! I fucking _knew_ there was some weird shit going on between you two! No one else could see it, but I sure could!”

“Roy, listen-“

“I think I’m gonna be sick...”

“Roy, wait!”

But it is too late. Roy has already ran out of the room and slammed the door shut, his footsteps loudly reverberating up the hallway and back down the stairs.

“Is he gone?” Luigi hollers from inside the bathroom.

“Yeah, he’s gone.”

The plumber slowly creaks open the door and peaks around the corner with nothing on but his green T-shirt.

No longer seeing Bowser’s son in sight any longer, he then walks out and lies down next to his naked, mortified man, covering his lower half with a blanket.

“I thought I locked the door,” Bowser mumbles, staring blankly at the foot of his bed, “This was a huge mistake. I should’ve listened to you, Luigi. I shouldn’t have pushed you into doing this. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Bowser. I wanted to do this as much as you did. I guess I was just trying to be cautious.”

“I know. You were right to be like that. It was just really getting hard for me to control myself around you. I really wanted us to finally turn our casual relationship together into a more serious one. But, I guess I screwed everything up, huh?”

As Luigi rests his head on his man’s chest and Bowser rests his arm around the plumber’s back, they lie together in total silence for a couple of minutes until they realize that the worst is not over yet.

“Bowser?”

“Hmm.”

“You know we’re going to have to tell the rest of them now, right? About us?”

Wishing so much that his boyfriend did not bring this to his attention, Bowser lets out a loud sigh and shakes his head.

“Yeah. I imagine Roy is already telling everyone what he saw by now. But, they should hear it from us too.”

The plumber and the beast stay in each other’s arms for a few more minutes, wallowing in each other's embarrassment, until they eventually force themselves out of their glum embrace, make themselves decent, and call the kids down to the dining room for an important family meeting.


	5. I'll Never Support This Relationship

“Thank you all for coming. I’m sure everyone here is wondering why I called this meeting to order-“

“What's going on, papa?” Junior interrupts, “Why did you call us down here?”

“Yeah, and why’s Luigi here?” Larry asks.

Every kid in the room then draws their attention to the green plumber standing beside their father at the head of the dinner table with his hands folded in front of him.

“When’d he come over?” Morton questions.

“I didn’t know he came to visit us,” Larry comments.

“Me neither!” Junior adds.

“Daddy, Roy told me what he saw,” Wendy mentions in a soft, concerning voice, “Is there something you’d like to tell us?”

“Yes, Wendy. There is. Everyone, I have an important announcement to make.”

After Bowser and Luigi finish exchanging nervous glances with each other, The Koopa King closes his eyes, exhales loudly, and reveals, “Luigi and I are in love.”

The entire room becomes dead silent as each kids’ eyes, except for Roy's, grow as wide as they possibly can.

“It's true,” Bowser confirms, gingerly pulling the plumber in closer to his side, “Your father is in love with a _man.”_

All of the Koopalings then begin to murmur amongst one another, saying things like, “Wow, I can’t believe this,” “I would never have guessed,” “Is he serious?” “I didn’t know dad was like this.”

Eventually, after everybody has calmed back down, Wendy says, “Daddy, I thought you and Mr. Luigi were just friends.”

“Yeah, like, when did you guys, y’know, start datin’?” Morton asks.

“We’ve been dating for about two weeks now.”

“We started out as friends,” Luigi mentions, “But when I came over to apologize for that day Mario and I broke into your guys’s castle, I confessed my attraction to your father and told him how much I have secretly liked him over the years, and well…”

The plumber stops to lightly peck the Koopa on the snout and gently rub his hard, rugged shell.

“Things just kind of took off from there.”

“Father, you can’t be serious, right?” Ludwig questions, “I mean, what about all those times you’ve tried to marry Princess Peach, or all those times you’ve sent us to go and kidnap her for you? You've always gave us the impression that you were in love with _her.”_

“To be honest, I was never actually in love Peach. I was never even really attracted to her.”

“So then, why did you pretend to be in love with someone you knew you didn’t really love?” Wendy asks.

“Because, I was worried about my reputation. I was worried that if everyone found out I’ve been lying for years about me not being attracted to women, no one would accept me for who I really am and my reputation as king would be tarnished forever.”

Everybody sits in complete silence for a full minute, looking around the room while trying to come up with something else to say to their father.

“Oh daddykins, that’s silly!” Wendy exclaims, “What does it matter to anybody if you like guys? That doesn’t change how you are as a person, a father, or a king! You’re still the super tough and super manly man that we all know and love!”

“Yeah, dad! We all love ya’ just the way you are!” Lemmy bursts out with as he dashes up to Bowser to give him a hug, “Besides, Luigi’s a nice guy! He always wants to spend time with us!”

“I hate to admit it, but unlike Peach, Luigi actually takes an interest in us!” Iggy states, “He always makes time for us when we, say, wanna talk and hang out, or, like, when I’ve got an idea for a new invention I want to show him.“

“Or when I have a new composition I want to play for him,” Ludwig includes.

“Or when I’ve painted something incredible and wanna show him!” Junior adds on.

While each Koopa Kid talks nice about the plumber and all that he has done for them and their king, Roy sits quietly in the background, lost in his own head.

_They can’t be serious, right? How the hell is everyone okay with this?! Our dad is dating a dude! Let alone it being Mario’s wimpy-ass brother, of all people!_

“Father,” Ludwig starts, “This is all very unexpected and maybe even a little strange, but, if you’re truly happy being with Luigi, then I guess I can try to accept it.”

“We all can!” Wendy proclaims, with her brothers agreeing by her side.

Everyone then hops out of their seats and crowds around their father and their father’s boyfriend to show their undenied support. Everyone, except for one.

The room suddenly becomes silent again as everybody shifts their attention onto Roy, who simply gives a nasty glare to everyone in return.

“Roy? You’ve been awful quiet,” Bowser mentions, “What do you say? You think you can give your old man the benefit of the doubt?”

“No dad, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because, it’s disgusting.”

“How is it disgusting, Roy?” Wendy demands, “Can’t you see how happy they are together? I don’t think I’ve ever seen daddy this happy before in my life!”

“I think I can speak for everyone and say, none of us have,” Ludwig states as a matter of fact.

“You guys’ve got it all twisted around! Men are suppose’ to fall in love with _women_ , not other men!”

“Who says?” Wendy plainly asks.

“Me, that’s who! And I'm sure there are a bunch of other people that would back me up on that too! What I saw when I walked into that bedroom was absolutely appalling, and I don’t wanna be any part of this!”

Darting his small, beady eyes onto his father, the purple-shelled, teenaged Koopa states very clearly and bluntly, **“I will _never_ support this relationship,** dad.”

Roy then rises up out of his chair and angrily rams it straight into the dining table.

“I’m going up to my room. No one talk to me until you all come to your senses,” he insists as he begins to storm upstairs.

Once the situation has simmered down, Bowser dips his head and sighs, simultaneously blowing out a bit of warm steam from his nostrils.

“I knew he wasn’t gonna take the news well,” he mutters.

“Oh daddykins. It’ll be alright,” Wendy says, “I’m sure Roy will eventually come around. He can’t stay mad forever.”

  


* * *

  


After Roy has slammed his bedroom door shut and has thrown himself into bed, he lies back and tries his hardest to forget about all that has taken place within the past hour.

Tossing and turning in a fit of rage and unable to distract his racing thoughts, he eventually decides to give a close family member a call.

“I know how I can get back at dad,” he tells himself, "If he thinks that he can just get away with dating Mario's brother, he's got another thing coming."

He then whips out his cell phone, dials a number, and awaits for an answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Grandpa Kamek.”

“Why, Roy! What a nice surprise! I haven’t heard from you all in quite some time! How is everything there?”

“Oh boy, granddad, do I have a story for you…”


	6. I Have No Son Anymore

_Knock knock knock._

“Good morning, Kamek! How are y-”

“I must speak to Lord Bowser. It’s very important.” 

“Very well then. Follow me.”

As the armored guard escorts the short, magical, turtle-like creature through their king’s enormous dwelling, Kamek finds his son sitting on the throne, conversing with a few of his troops.

He also notices that Luigi is not with him at this time.

“Bowser! I must speak with you in private!” Kamek orders, interrupting one of the Hammer Bros. in mid-sentence.

“Excuse me, Kamek, but can’t you see I’m kind of busy ri-“

“This cannot wait, son! We need to discuss this _now!”_

Bowser knows that when his father addresses him as _son_ instead of _your highness_ or _Lord Bowser_ that he is seriously upset with him about something.

“Excuse us, men,” Bowser tells his troops as he gives Kamek a stern glare, “This is, apparently, more important than what we were trying to discuss.”

Without saying another word to him, the crabby Koopa King tromps over to his puny, dwarfish parental figure and leads him into the dining area.

Once Bowser has carelessly plopped himself down into the head chair at the dining table, he groans to himself and casts another stone cold scowl onto Kamek.

“Alright Kamek, what is it that you want from me?” He questions, already becoming very impatient, “And make it quick! You disrupted an important discussion I was having with my new recruits!”

“Son, would you mind telling me what the hell you think you’re doing?”

Very shocked to hear his old man talk to him in this manner, Bowser cocks an eyebrow up and asks, “What do you mean?”

“I got a very interesting phone call from somebody last night. They told me something about you that you’ve been keeping from me for years, apparently.”

“Damnit Roy!” Bowser mutters under his breath.

“So, tell me son. How long did you think you were gonna keep up this charade?”

“Dad, listen-“

“I could put up with you giving up on trying to marry that ungrateful, blonde-haired bitch,” Kamek begins, hopping out of his seat to pace back and forth, “I could put up with you giving up on trying to take over her kingdom. I could _even_ put up with you befriending Mario’s sissy-ass brother, even though I wasn't too happy about it. But now I’m hearing that you two are _dating?”_

Bowser remains mute.

“What the hell were you thinking, son? I thought I had raised you better than this! I didn’t raise a faggot!”

“For your information, dad, unlike Peach, Luigi actually loves me, and I love him! He may not be the strongest or the most bravest man out there, but we have a true connection with each other. And for the first time in my life, I’m finally, truly happy!”

“Ugh! _Stop!_ I don’t wanna hear anymore of this nonsense!” Kamek yells, pressing his pointy blue hat against his ear holes.

“Look dad, I don’t know what to tell you. I was never attracted to woman. Ever.”

“Hmph. I see why Clawdia left you then...”

Hearing this, Bowser slowly stands up from the king's chair and towers over Kamek, his cold, reptilian blood beginning to boil with rage. “What did you just say?”

“You heard what I said, you big fairy,” Kamek snarls, showing no signs of fear from his son’s intimidating stance, “She could see that you weren’t really attracted to her. That poor, innocent girl didn’t want to be married to some cock jockey anymore! I bet you that’s the reason why she took off that night after Junior hatched! She didn’t wanna be married to a joke!”

“That’s _not_ true!”

“Oh, I don’t know, Bowser. I wouldn’t put it past her to do something like that. She _did_ tell me on quite a few occasions that there was something off about you...”

With steam starting to spurt profusely out of his nostrils with each rapid, shallow breath, and a blazing, hot fire brewing inside his throat, Bowser hollers, _“That’s it!_ I have had about enough of your insults and your damn lies! Get out of my castle _right now_ before I roast you alive!”

“Fine. I’ll leave. But just so you know, Bowser, your time will come sooner than you think. I _will_ get my revenge on you and that twink plumber! **I have no son anymore.”**

Pacing over to the dining room door, Kamek halts in mid-step and looks back, pinning his eyes directly into Bowser’s.

“I hope you choke on a dick, you fucking sperm gurgler.”

Unable to contain his pent-up anger any longer, Bowser roars at the top of his lungs and instantaneously grabs the chair that his father was sitting in, pitching it towards the door.

However, his attack was carried out a little too late. Kamek had already ran out of the room and latched the door behind him.

The beyond enraged beast proceeds to roar and scream as he kicks around a few more chairs, stoving one of his short, stubby toes in the process.

Howling in immense pain, his broken pinky toe throbbing with every step, he then flips the entire dining table over onto its side, causing the first floor of the castle to shake and shutter, and then some.

As Bowser kicks open the dining room door with his good foot, every one of his troops nearby stare at their overly furious king, shocked and frightened, as they all have not seen him act out like this in a long time.

The Koopa King limps his way up two flights of stairs and into his bedroom, slamming the door as hard as he can, just shy of breaking it.

He then tosses his spiked bracelets and choker across the room and recklessly slips the shell off of his back, letting it fall to the floor with a loud, clean _thud._

After literally throwing himself into bed, Bowser yanks the covers over his horned cranium as he huffs and puffs to himself in complete isolation.

  


* * *

  


_Knock knock knock._

“Hey Luigi! How's it going?”

“Not too bad, I suppose. Hanging in there.”

“What brings you by here, little bro?”

“Mario, I was wondering if I could talk with you about something.”

“Certainly! Come on in!”

As Mario leads his younger brother into the living room, the green plumber notices his brother’s new Bonneter friend hovering above the sofa.

“Hi Luigi!”

“Ciao, Cappy,” Luigi says, tipping his cap.

After the two brothers have sat down and made themselves comfortable, Luigi begins with, “Mario, I’m just going to come right out and say it.”

“Say what, Luigi?”

Luigi closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath to bring his anxiety level down a bit.

“Bowser and I are dating!”

Mario raises an eyebrow and looks at his sibling with a funny smirk on his face.

“What?” He asks, chuckling in a bit of disbelief.

“It’s true, Mario.”

“Come on now, you’re pulling my leg!”

“No, Mario, I am being serious right now! Bowser and I are _in love!”_

The smile from Mario’s face slowly fades away, as he utters, “Oh my goodness. You’re serious right now, aren’t you?”

Luigi nods his head.

“But, I don’t understand. What happened with you and Daisy?”

“We broke up a long time ago. We’re just good friends now.”

The older bro takes his cap off to scratch his head, and adds, “I- I had no idea. This whole time, I just thought you and Bowser became friends. You even told me yourself that you two were just friends.”

“That’s how we started out, but as time went on and the more we hung out together, we just sort of began to develop feelings for each other.”

“How long has this been going on for?”

“For about two weeks now.”

Mario blinks his big, blue eyes and few times and stares at the green plumber in utter shock and dismay.

“I don’t believe this... my brother is _dating_ King Koopa? _The_ King Koopa?!”

“Now Mario, i- it’s not as bad as you think-“

“Not as bad as I think? Are you kidding me?! Luigi, Bowser is a terrible person! He has _no_ manners, _no_ decency, and _no_ sympathy or respect for others! You are dating a guy who does bad things just for the sake of doing bad things!”

“He’s not like that now-“

“And I’m supposed to believe that? People like him don’t change, Luigi. They don’t just wake up one day and suddenly see the errors of their ways and clean up their act!”

“They do too, Mario! Bowser has changed! Please, you've got to believe me!”

“Luigi, I’m sorry, but I do not believe that Bowser has changed. Now, I think that it would be best if you call off this silly relationship with him.”

“You can’t tell me what to do, Mario!” Luigi raises his voice, quickly standing to his feet, “This isn’t just some silly fling, you know. It’s true love! I love him, and I _know_ he loves me too! I've been secretly in love with him for years now, and I don’t care what you say about him, because nothing is going to change my mind about how I feel about him! I'm happier than I have ever been before, and I am _not_ going to let you ruin this for me just because you don’t like him!”

Mario simply stares back at his agitated sibling.

“In fact, I’m having dinner with him and his kids over at his castle later on today, and you can’t stop me!”

Luigi then dashes for the front door, stopping to look back at his brother to say, “I think I have overstayed my welcome here anyway.”

After his younger sibling has latched the door shut, Mario leans back into his arm chair and rubs his brow in frustration.

“I don’t know what to do, Cappy,” he states as he sees his top hat-like friend float over beside him.

“I don’t either, Mario. I mean, I guess I can kind of understand why you would be upset at your brother.”

“It’s not really that I am upset at him. I’m just really worried about him. I’m afraid that Bowser is going to hurt him. Luigi really believes that he has found true love this time, and if Bowser does something bad to him in some way, it’s going to destroy him.”

“I see where you’re coming from Mario, but, you have to admit, Bowser _does_ seem very different than how he was months ago.”

“You think so too, huh?”

“I do, Mario.”

Taking a moment to reflect on the events that have taken place within the past few months, Mario sighs and says, “You know, you may be right, Cappy. Looking back, Bowser _does_ seem genuinely kinder and happier than he has been in the past. He didn’t even complain or throw a fit after losing the last karting championship we hosted.”

“Exactly my point!”

“I still don’t know what to think, though. I’m still _really_ worried for Luigi's safety…”


	7. You Don't Need Him At All

Shortly after arriving back at his pad, Luigi, still very emotional from spilling his deep, dark secret to his brother, decides to visit his darling, Koopa boyfriend a little earlier than first planned.

Once he has freshened up and has changed into his good pair of overalls, the plumber sneaks over by the exit to his mushroom-shaped home and, ever so slightly, cracks the door open ajar.

He then pokes his head out and peers around the corner, making sure that his nosy, Toadstool neighbors do not see him.

After creeping around to the backyard, trying to be as stealthy as possible, Luigi crouches down and shoves aside a cluster of cleverly placed, fake bushes, revealing a super secret warp pipe that Bowser has built for him.

This special pipe leads straight into the Koopa’s kingdom and into the courtyard of the king's castle. However, with the help of his unimaginably powerful, dark magic skills, only Bowser and Luigi can travel through it.

Plunging down the warp pipe and springing up out of the opposite end, the plumber proceeds to sprint across the bridge over the castle’s moat and knock on the tall, towering doors that display The Koopa King’s infamous, wicked-looking insignia.

After waiting outside for about five minutes, repeatedly banging on the door in hopes of being heard, eventually, a Hammer Bro. runs over and quickly answers.

“Greetings, Luigi!” He kindly salutes as he bends over to catch his breath, “I apologize for not being able to answer any sooner. We are a bit understaffed at the moment.”

“What happened?”

“Well, ever since everybody discovered Lord Bowser’s secret, about half of us, I guess, decided to quit their jobs and walk out on him.”

“Mamma mia! That’s terrible!”

“I know. It’s more than unhelpful for all of us that stayed behind,” he comments, still panting profusely, “So, what brings you by the king’s realm today?”

“Bowser and I were having a dinner date here.”

“Oh, of course! Follow me!”

As the guard escorts the plumber through the castle’s many long hallways and up the two flights of spiral staircases, Luigi asks, “How is he doing today?”

“Not so good. Him and his father got into a huge argument this morning. He’s locked himself in his room practically all day.”

“Oh. I- I see,” Luigi stutters, mentally preparing himself for the worst.

Once the hammer-expertise leaves and goes about his assigned duty, the nervous plumber slowly edges closer to the bedroom's enterance and lightly taps on the door.

“Bowser? A- Are you in there?”

No response.

He knocks again, this time, hearing a faint growl coming from inside.

“Come in,” the voice snarls back.

Not sure of what to expect, Luigi steadily inches open the door, his entire body tensing up and his heart racing as each ear-splitting, high-pitched creak pierces through his eardrums.

Looking into the bedroom, the first thing he notices is that Bowser’s master bed has been transformed into a humongous blanket fort.

He also takes note of his spiked bracelets and collar that were carelessly tossed around the room, along with his shell that is laying face down on the ground, its sharp, pointy spikes punctured through the floorboards.

“Bowser?”

“What?”

“What are you doing?”

“Hiding.”

“From what?”

“The world.”

Feeling really concerned for him, as Luigi has never seen Bowser act so detached from life, he asks, “Well, do you mind it if I join you in your blanket fort?”

“I guess not.”

Once the plumber has crawled into the opposite end of the bed, he finds his reptilian sweetheart sitting Indian-style in bed and pouting, his arms crossed firmly in front of his chest and a mean, unwelcoming scowl painted across his face.

His studded toe has also been bandaged up since the accident.

The fuming beast then darts his flaming red eyes at his human boyfriend for a brief moment before hanging his head back down and grumbling to himself.

“I take it that things didn’t go so well between you and your dad?” Luigi asks.

Bowser growls again and shakes his head.

“A- Are you mad at me, Bow Bow?”

Letting out a long, depressing sigh, the Koopa wipes away the anger from his face and looks up into the plumber's sweet, shimmering, sky blue eyes.

“As much as I want to be right now, I can’t be. It’s not your fault that you fell in love with me. It’s not your fault that I fell in love with you. If anything, it’s my stupid father’s fault for not accepting me for who I am!”

Luigi says or does nothing other than nods his head in affirmation.

“You should’ve seen the look he gave me right before he left, Luigi. I have _never_ seen him look so angry and disappointed with me in my whole life. All I ever wanted was for him to be proud of me, and now look. He’s furious at me and wants nothing to do with me ever again!”

“Bowser, can I ask you something?”

“I guess.”

“Why do you care so much about what your father thinks of you?”

Not expecting Luigi to ask him such a question, Bowser hastily comes up with a short, quick answer to give. 

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

“There has to be some reason, Bowser. Think harder.”

The Koopa grunts in bit of frustration and takes another minute to think for real. “I haven’t told you this before, Luigi, but you should know this.”

“Know what?”

“Kamek is _not_ my real father.”

“Really?” Luigi asks, trying to sound like he has never realized this before.

“Yep. My blood parents were murdered when I was just a little Koopaling, so me, and my brother and sister, were left without a mommy and daddy. Nobody else in my family wanted to deal with our braty asses. Especially not me, even _with_ my inherited fortune. But then Kamek, who was a close family friend of ours at the time, came along and took us all in and treated us like we were his own. He may have raised me to become such a spoiled, selfish, intolerant jackass, but he was the only father figure I had growing up. He was _all_ I had, really. I mean, besides all the servants that were forced to be there for me when I needed them, but, I didn't care much about them at the time.”

“What about your siblings?”

“We never got along. We were always fighting with each other, and stuff...”

Again, Luigi silently nods his head.

“Kamek cared about me and treated me so well, that I guess I just never wanted to let him down or make him disappointed or upset with me.”

“You wanna know what I think, Bowser?”

“What?”

“It sounds to me that you were afraid of losing him too.”

“You’re probably right, Luigi. If I’d lost Kamek, I would’ve had absolutely no one else to turn to. Who knows what would’ve happened to me if I didn’t have him! I probably would've ended up being put up for adoption and shoved into some crappy foster home like all my other kids were before I took them in!”

Snorting to himself, Bowser adds, “But I guess, this time, I _have_ lost him. I _failed_ him.”

“No you didn’t, Bowser. _He_ failed _you."_

“What do you mean?”

“Well, as a father, he's supposed to try and be there for you when you need him. For love, support, or anything else.”

“Of course. I would know, I’m a father too.”

“Right. So, when he found out about us being together, he should’ve, at the least, tried to understand your situation and be as supportive as he could be. But instead, he walked out on you when you needed him the most. You didn’t fail at being a son to him. _He_ failed at being a father to _you._ Not to mention, like you said, how poorly he raised you.”

“If anything, _you’re_ the one whose taught me about manners and how to treat others with respect. I don’t remember Kamek _ever_ teaching me that crap when I was little!”

“You know what I would do, Bowser?”

“What?”

“I would stop worrying so much about what your father thinks about you. If he can’t accept you for who you are, then you don’t need him. **You don’t need him at all.”**

“Hey, yeah. You’re right!”

“He can’t tell you want to do or how to act anymore. You are not a little boy anymore, Bowser. You’re a grown man now.”

“That’s right! And as far as I know, I have the authority now! I have the upper hand! After all, I am The King for Christ’s sake! And if my father can’t give me the respect I deserve, then there’s no place for him in my life anymore!”

Once Bowser has calmed himself back down, he says, “Thank you, Luigi. You don’t know how happy I am that we’re together.”

“Me too, big guy,” Luigi says, leaning to gingerly pat him on his bad foot.

“Hug?”

“Hug.”

Bowser then positions himself better and unfolds his legs, as Luigi spins himself around and slides backwards into his big, flabby belly, delicately resting his back up against the beast's smooth, warm, stomach padding.

The Koopa gently places his thick, muscular arms around the front of the plumber’s skinny torso and lovingly cradles him in his grasp.

“Hey, Bowser? Can I ask? I’m just curious.”

“What’s that?”

“How come you made a blanket fort to hide in?”

“Well, I used to make blanket forts all the time after my mother and father passed away. If I was feeling really sad, or if I was really upset about something, I would crawl under the blankets, close my eyes, and pretend that I was in my own world. I guess I just never fully grew out of it.”

“Awww,” Luigi says, giggling to himself.

“I know, it’s pretty dumb and childish, huh?” Bowser asks, feeling a little self-conscious.

“Nah. It’s kind of nice under here, actually. It warm and snug, and it makes me feel like we’re the only ones left in the whole world.”

Bowser giggles back and kisses his man’s neck.

“Right now, I kinda wish we _were_ the only two people in the world.”

The plumber and the beast continue to stay curled up together under the blankets, thoroughly and wholeheartedly enjoying each other's company and energy, while basking in the sweet, silent bliss of being hidden away from the outside world.

Hours later, a servant notifies them and the kids that dinner is finally ready.


	8. We Should Give Him Another Chance

Ever since that wonderfully calm and pleasant evening of talking, cuddling, and sharing a delightful dinner together with the children, the raging storm between the two lovebirds and their loved ones have simmered down some.

As Luigi continues to spend day after day, week after week with The Koopa King and his eight lovely kids, each child continues to get used to the idea of the green plumber being their father’s love interest.

Even Roy has started to dislike this idea a little less.

  


* * *

  


One early, autumn morning, after Bowser and Luigi awake from their peaceful, serene slumber together and make themselves presentable to their peers, they stride down the stairs, with each soldier and servant saluting them as they pass by, and sit together on the king’s royal throne, ready to start the beginning of a new week.

“So, Luigi…” Bowser purrs, “I have to know something.”

“Know what, big guy?” Luigi responds, smiling from ear to ear as he carefully lies himself across the Koopa's lap.

“When did you first notice that you started to, you know… like me?”

“You remember the time when you kidnapped my brother and tried to melt the Antarctic to flood the entire world?”

“Yes. I remember,” Bowser mumbles, feeling a bit ashamed from his man bringing up his past bad deeds.

“Well, when I ripped off your shell to get the key and save Mario... I don’t know. You looked kind of hot.”

The beast then booms out a boisterous laugh, and asks, “Oh, really now?”

“Mmhmm. I have to admit, it was pretty hard for me to take my eyes off of you. I mean, I always was really fond of your looks, but, in that moment, _that_ was what did it for me.”

Before Bowser can reply back, the tall, sturdy, metal doors to his throne room suddenly swing wide open, as an all too familiar-looking Magikoopa dressed in azure blue waltzes in with two guards marching by his sides.

“Kamek? What the hell are you doing here?” The king asks, his perfectly good mood plummeting down to the dungeons in his castle, “Why would you two let him back into my domain?”

“Terribly sorry, your highness, but he kept insisting that he speak with you.”

“He said it was extremely important.”

Bowser then flashes his father a very dirty look, and growls, “You know, you must have a pretty big set of marbles to be showing your face around here again, old man. Especially after the way you talked to your king last time!”

“I know, son, but I _must_ talk with you again. Like your troops said, it’s _very_ important.“

Leaning back into his throne, groaning and rubbing his already throbbing forehead, the king commands, “Fine! Just tell me what you need to tell me and then get out of my hair! For good!”

“Thank you, son. My reason for coming over here today is that I would like to apologize for how poorly I treated you the other day. It wasn’t right for me to act out like I did when I discovered-”

Grinding his sharp, jagged teeth, Kamek turns his attention to the plumber laying in the king’s lap and chokes out, “That you were dating Mario’s brother.”

“What are you up to?” Bowser questions, narrowing his eyes down at the Magikoopa.

“Nothing at all, your gayn- Er, I mean, your highness! I assure you, I am only here to try and, somehow, make things right with you.”

“Make things _right_ with me? Are you kidding me?!” The beast shouts as he pounds his fist onto the armrest of his throne, “Is this some kind of a sick joke? Because I am _not_ laughing, now am I?!”

“This is no joke, son-”

“You wanna make things right with me? Huh? _Do you?!”_

“Y- Yes-“

“Then get the hell out of my kingdom and as far away from me as possible! What you said to me the other day was _unforgivable!”_

“I- I know son, but please-“

“All those terrible names you called me and Luigi, assuming why Clawdia left me and then lying to my face about it... _piss off,_ you old bastard!”

Kamek then folds his hands in front of his stomach and hangs his head down, looking defeated.

“I understand, son. I’ll be on my way then.”

As he turns and begins to leave the room, he stops and looks back, adding on, “However, if you _do_ decide to change your mind, I’d like to invite you and Luigi over to my house today for lunch, so I can try and get to know the man that’s been so good towards my son.”

Bowser and Luigi look at each other, unsure of what to think about the Magikoopa’s unexpected proposition.

“I strongly encourage you to accept my invitation. I would very much like to try to make things right with you boys.”

“I don’t know...” Bowser says, “What do you think, Luigi?”

“Well... I- I’m not too sure,” Luigi stutters, feeling like he is being put on the spot, “I mean, i- it sounds to me like your father _does_ want to make amends with us...”

“Yeah, but-“

“I think **we should give him another chance,** Bowser. What’s the worst that could happen?”

The Koopa King grunts to himself and taps his claws impatiently on his armrest, giving a moment’s thought about the situation.

“Alright. Weʼll be there.”

“Thank you so much, son-”

“But, if any funny business happens while we’re there, you _will_ be sorry you ever fucked with us! Especially with _my_ Luigi!”

“Understood. Come over to my place at about 1:00 and I’ll have lunch prepared for us,” Kamek states cheerfully as he shows off a very big, toothy grin, “Hope to see you two there!”

  


* * *

  


After the beast and his beloved human lover hop into Bowser’s mean-looking, souped-up muscle car, they decide to take their time and take a nice, relaxing cruise down the scenic back roads to the Magikoopa’s residence.

“I’m not too sure about this, Luigi.”

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit nervous. I don’t know about you, but Kamek seemed pretty damn phony to me, like he didn't _really_ mean anything he said. I still feel like he's up to something…”

“I don’t know, Bowser. Maybe we should try to give him the benefit of the doubt, you know? After all, he _is_ your father.”

The Koopa then looks down at Luigi and gives him a funny look.

“Well, not your _real_ father, but, y- you know… t- the only father figure you had when you were-“

“I know what you meant, Greenie,” Bowser acknowledges as he roughs up the plumber’s hair, “You’re cute when you get all flustered, you know that?”

Once they have pulled into the driveway of Kamek’s two-story, turtle shell-shaped house, Bowser then shuts the engine off, clumsily stumbles out of his vehicle, and awkwardly opens the passenger door for his precious, little man.

“Don’t worry, Bow Bow,” Luigi tells him, a bit surprised to see his tough, macho man act so discombobulated, “Try to relax. It’s easier said than done, trust me, I would know. But, who knows? Maybe you two will get along just fine.”

Bowser quietly grunts to himself and says under his breath, “I doubt it.”

The two then make their way up the steps to the porch and knock on the front door, the elderly Magikoopa immediately answering.

“Ah, you two made it! Wonderful! Come in, come in!”

As they hang their jackets up and sit themselves down at the small but elegant-looking dinner table, Kamek runs out of the kitchen with a wide, glass pan and announces, “I made Fire Flower Casserole! Hope you boys like it!”

He lays the dish on the table, quickly flipping it around, and proceeds to cut Luigi and Bowser each a piece, also cutting himself a serving on the opposite side.

“So, Luigi. How does it feel to be dating my son? The one, and the only, King Koopa?”

“Well, it is quite an honor, really. I mean, I am not a rich man, but it really means the world to me that, out of all the other wealthier and more powerful men that he could have chose, he chose me.”

“You know it, babe!” Bowser affirms, patting the plumber on the back.

About halfway through their meal, the plumber and the beast soon realize that it is getting harder and harder to stay awake, their eyelids growing heavier by the second as they start to yawn continually, every few seconds.

“Mamma mia. I’m so tired all of a sudden-”

“Yeah, me too. I feel like I might need to-“

Before they can finish their sentences, all of a sudden, Bowser and Luigi pass out cold, landing face first into their food.

“Wonderful,” Kamek says, a sinister smile slowly growing across his mug.

After the Magikoopa has dragged their limp, lifeless bodies into the living room, he whips out his magic wand and sporadically waves it about in a few very intricate and seemingly random patterns.

He then stops dead in his tracks and points it directly at Luigi and Bowser, casting a bright, white beam of light around their unconscious beings.

After a few minutes, the blindingly bright stream of light instantly vanishes, and the beast and the plumber are no longer in sight.

“Excellent. I got rid of them!” Kamek exclaims, cackling maniacally, “So long, Luigi! And good riddance, King Bowser! You were a lost cause to the Koopa community anyway.”

Bending forward and rubbing his shell in pain, he adds, “Goodness. Bowser is not an easy person to teleport by magic. I think I’d better go and lie down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case any of you guys missed it or didn't realize it, when Luigi mentioned the time he had to save Mario and stop Bowser from trying to flood the world by melting Antarctica, this was a reference to the events that took place during the game, Mario is Missing.
> 
> Nothing important, really, just something I thought I'd throw in there for fun and to give Luigi a bit more backstory.


	9. None of This Is Your Fault

“Oh, mamma mia. What happened?”

Awakening from his unanticipated slumber, the plumber rubs the sleep away from his eyes and attempts to stand himself up.

_That’s funny. How did I end up falling asleep on top of Bowser’s chest?_

Still half-asleep and unaware of the whole situation, Luigi gracelessly tumbles off of his boyfriend’s body and onto the ground beside him. 

He then instantaneously hops to his feet, feeling a sudden, intense burning sensation quickly spreading across his entire backside.

“Ow-wo-wow! Damnit! The ground is _hot!”_

After dusting himself off, the plumber's attention is drawn away from his severe back pain and onto the unforeseen changes of his surroundings.

Instead of seeing the usual lush, colorful, flowering terrain of Bowser’s kingdom, Luigi sees nothing but hill after hill of sand, with the occasional cactus placed here and there.

He then begins to panic as he frantically looks around, hoping to find someone in the near distance who can help him and his boyfriend.

Unfortunately, there is absolutely nobody in sight. Just sand and cacti.

Luigi then crouches down next to his still sleeping man and starts to vigorously shake his chest, yelling in his face, “Bowser! Bowser, wake up! Something is very wrong! You have to wake up!”

“No, Luigi. Please, just five more minutes...” Bowser grumbles as he tries to shoo the plumber away with his hand.

“Bowser! Please, _wake up!_ We are _not_ in your fatherʼs house anymore!”

“What? Where are we then?”

With what little strength he posseses while still in his hypnagogic state, the beast attempts to push himself up, but instantly realizes that he is lying flat on his shell with his long, razor-sharp spikes dug deep into the sand beneath him.

“What the hell? I’m stuck! Help me up, would ya’?”

Once the plumber has unstuck his turtle shell-wearing man from the ground and has helped him stand to his feet, Bowser notices right away that Luigi is correct.

They are _not_ in Kamek’s house any longer. They are, in fact, deep within the rolling, sandy plains of the Dry Dry Desert.

 _“Son of a bitch!”_ Bowser screams at the top of his lungs.

He then pounds his foot hard onto the ground and emits a series of ear-shattering roars, followed by one, enormous stream of scorching hot, blue fire.

With his fists tightly clenched, his breaths rapidly increasing in speed and shallowness, and his tail fiercely swishing about from side to side, Bowser continues, “I don’t believe it! I don’t _fucking_ believe it! He _was_ up to something! That _lying, backstabbing,_ piece of _old shit!_ I should’ve _known_ he’d fuck us over! I cannot believe he _really_ had the nerve to poison us like that! And then when we passed out, he teleported us to the _goddamn desert!”_

Bellowing out another rage-filled roar, the hostile Koopa stomps his other foot into the hot, sand-covered ground, causing the Earth beneath him and the plumber to rumble like a miniature earthquake.

As he proceeds with his intense, anger-induced tantrum, Luigi faces away from the irate beast and places his gloved hands over his face, beginning to hyperventilate and sob uncontrollably.

Noticing his boyfriend in the middle of having a major panic attack, Bowser snaps, _“What the hell_ is wrong with _you_ now?!”

“This is all my fault! Mamma mia, this is all _my_ fault! We’re here because of _me_ , aren’t we?!”

“What do you mean itʼs _all your fault?”_

Feeling the presence of the menacing, belligerent Koopa creeping up behind him, Luigi turns back around and slowly removes his hands off of his tear-soaked eyes.

The shaking and quivering plumber, not expecting Bowser to be towering directly over him, yelps in terror and stumbles backwards, falling flat on his bottom.

“I- I pushed you i- into doing something you didnʼt want to do! You knew f- full-well that your father didn’t truly change, but I was being too foolish and stupid at the time, a- and I pushed you into giving him another chance! _I’m_ the reason why we are here! Please! I beg of you! _Don’t hurt me!”_

Staring down at his sobbing, hysterical man in such shock and concern, Bowser pushes all of his anger and rage aside for the time being and extends his arm out.

“Luigi.”

“Y- Yes?”

“Here. Let me help you up.”

Luigi forces the tears back into his eye sockets and squints up at his mountainous, squamate lover.

“I won’t do anything to you, I promise. I would never, _ever_ , think of hurting you,” Bowser insists, speaking as softly and reassuringly as he can.

The plumber then nervously takes his man’s strong, massive, scaly hand and carefully pulls himself upwards, immediately clinging onto the beast as he returns the other half of the hug.

“Listen, Luigi. I am _not_ mad at you.”

“Y- Youʼre not?”

“No. Iʼm not. Look, I don't blame you for wanting to give Kamek a second chance. You had _no_ idea that he would do this to us. Shit, not even _I_ thought he'd be crazy enough to try and get rid of us like _this.”_

“I r- really had n- no idea...”

“Kamek did not have to do what he did to us. He could have simply left us be and let us continue on with our lives, but instead, he chose not to, because heʼs a complete asshole. He tends to hold grudges on people for practically the rest of their lives. Heh, I can see where I got that from... the point is, **none of this is your fault,** Luigi. Besides, I guess it probably didn’t help that I kinda put you on the spot when I asked you if we should trust him or not, so, for that, I’m sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

A smile then slowly forms across Luigi's face as he dries his eyes again and pats the Koopa on the shell.

“Of course I can, you big lug. I love you so much.”

“Love you too, Greenie.”

“Thank you for making me feel better. You always know just what to say to me.”

“It's my pleasure.”

After taking one last look around from where they are currently standing, the plumber asks, “So... which way do you think we should go?”

“I have no idea.”

Seeing absolutely no significant landmarks within sight, Luigi suggests, “Well, I suppose we could head straight and see where we end up?”

“Worth a shot. I don’t got any better ideas...”

  


* * *

  


Meanwhile, back at the castle, none of The Koopa King’s eight kids have noticed that their father and his plumber lover have not returned home.

None of them, except for one. Roy.

Unable to find Bowser or Luigi anywhere, the purple-shelled, teenaged Koopa decides to ask his younger sister if she has seen them.

He knocks on her door.

“Come in!”

Roy enters her room, and asks, “Hey Wendy, have you seen dad or Luigi anywhere?”

“No, I haven’t,” Wendy says, pulling her earbuds out, “I’ve been up here in my room since lunch.”

Illuminating the tiny, LCD screen on her music player, she becomes a bit surprised by the time that it currently is.

“It’s after 5:00.”

“I know.”

“And they haven’t came back yet?”

“No, that’s why I’m asking if you’ve seen them or not.”

“That’s strange. I would have thought that, by now, they would’ve came back home. They were only going over to grandpa's to have lunch with him.”

“Yeah, I thought so too… I think I’m gonna give granddad a call and see what’s up.”

“I’ll come with you.”

As both Koopalings head to the bedroom over, Roy grabs his cell phone off of his bedside table and dials the Magikoopa’s number.

His phone begins to ring.

“Why, hello Roy! How are you doing this fine evening?” Kamek answers.

“Iʼm alright. How are you doing, grandpa?”

“Good, good!”

“Hey, dad and Luigi havenʼt came home yet. Would they happen to still be there with you?” 

“O- Oh yes! As a matter of fact, they are!” He lies, “I- I was just about to call you actually a- and tell you that, since we are all having such a wonderful time together, I offered them to spend a night or two here at my place.”

Becoming more and more suspicious by his grandfather's unusual response, especially from all of the stuttering that follows, Roy accepts this answer and says, “Oh... well, thatʼs good, I guess. Thanks for telling me. Glad things are going good.”

“Alright Roy, you kids have a nice night.”

“You too. Later.” 

They both end the call.

“What did he say?” Wendy asks.

“He said that things are going really well, and that dad and Luigi are going to spend a couple of nights there with him.”

“Well, good for them! That sounds wonderful!”

“Yeah, a little _too_ wonderful, if you ask me...”

“What do you mean by that, Roy?”

“I donʼt know... it just strikes me as a little odd that at, one minute, grandpa Kamek wants nothing to do with them, and then the next minute, heʼs all apologetic and wanting to try and make things right... I donʼt buy it. Something fishy is going on here, and I don’t like it!”

“Roy, Iʼm sure they are okay. I’m sure that grandpa meant what he told you. He’s not one to tell fibs to people, especially not to his own grandchildren.”

“Maybe youʼre right... maybe Iʼm just being a little paranoid is all.”

“Besides, what do you care anyway? I thought you were still mad at daddykins for dating Mr. Luigi?”

“Thatʼs just it though, Iʼm not... at least, not anymore. I’ve never seen dad so happy before in my whole life. You and Luddy had a point. Ever since Luigi came into dadʼs life, heʼs been a totally different person. A better person. Hell, I think weʼve all kinda changed for the better. Haven't you noticed? Ever since Mario's brother showed up, that there has not been a _single_ war between our kingdom and The Mushroom Kingdom. Or, any other kingdoms for that matter. We really do owe it to Luigi for opening our eyes to our corrupted ways. Especially dad’s.”

With her eyes as big as blue shells, Wendy stares at Roy in complete and utter surprise from hearing his speech, and says, “Roy... Iʼve never heard you speak this way before. Iʼm shocked!”

“Well, you have to agree with me. All of what I said is true.”

“I think you're finally starting to get it. That there is _nothing_ wrong with two men falling in love with each other.”

“I am. I still think it's a little weird, but, you know... if dad's happy, then, I guess I am too.”

Roy then lets out sigh, looks back at his blank phone screen, and adds, “I guess Iʼll give granddad another chance. But, if theyʼre not back in two days like he said, then Iʼm calling him again to give him a piece of my mind! If he really _is_ up to something, heʼs sure as hell not gonna get away with it!”


	10. I Know You Have Changed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small warning, this is a very dialogue-heavy chapter. It’s still shorter than the rest, but _a lot_ of backstory is told.

Hours have passed by since the beast and the plumber arrived in the Dry Dry Desert, teleported into the middle of nowhere.

After searching and searching, with absolutely no luck finding any sort of civilization anywhere, they soon notice that nightfall is approaching them fast, as the bright, fiery, desert sun sets further and further over the horizon.

Exhausting from walking so many miles without taking a single break, Bowser growls in pain and says, “Ugh! My feet are _killing_ me! And I'm _so_ hungry!”

“I know, Bowser. _I know._ I'm hungry and my feet are hurting too,” Luigi replies, becoming rather irritated from the beast’s constant whining and complaining.

“Can we stop and take a break? Please? My poor feet feel like they’re on fire!”

The plumber ganders up into the starry, night sky and sighs, finally choosing to give in to his boyfriend’s pleads for rest.

“Yeah, I suppose we can-”

“Oh, thank God!”

“But only for a bit, and then we have to get moving again.”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you.”

Bowser then plops himself down onto the smooth, sandy, desert surface and gently massages the soles of his huge, scaly feet, wincing in pain every so often as he does so.

“Just because my skin is a lot thicker than yours, does _not_ mean I can tolerate the heat forever!”

Luigi sits down beside his pained lover and rubs his shelled backside.

“Oh, god. I think I’m getting blisters too!” Bowser states, gingerly poking and prodding a particularly reddened spot under his right foot, “Ouch! Damnit, is that _painful!”_

“Well then, don't do that.”

Bowser grumbles back as his response to that.

Seeing the intense discomfort coming from his darling love, Luigi suggests, “You know what, why don’t we just stay right here for a while? I could sure use a break myself.”

“Thank the great Koopa gods in the sky! I thought you’d never say that!” Bowser exclaims as he pushes his shell aside and carelessly flops back into the cool, silky sand, propping his head up with both hands.

“Brrr! I'm shivering like crazy!” Luigi says, “I forgot how cold it gets in the desert at night! It's got to be, at _most,_ thirty degrees out here!”

“Well, here,” Bowser says, patting the space between the plumber and his stomach, “Lay down next to me. We can cuddle together for warmth.”

Luigi then shifts over next to the beast and lies back into his thick, mighty arm, and says, “Thanks, babe.”

“No problem.”

After stargazing for a few minutes together into the nighttime sky, filled with millions of bright, twinkling stars, Luigi decides to break the silence.

“Bowser?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but, I’m curious. Why did you used to try and marry the princess when you knew, deep down, that you weren’t really in love with her?”

“Well, it’s a long story, but, it all started the night after Clawdia left me. I remember everything like it all happened yesterday. Kamek was really put off that she walked out on me that night, so he searched around for days, trying to find someone new for me. Someone who would treat me better and be way more loyal to me than what she was. One day, while I was sitting there on my throne, kicking back and reading a book about dark magic spells, he bursts in with the newspaper in his hand, all happy and excited, and brings my attention to a young, blonde-haired girl clear across the globe, named Princess Toadstool. When he showed me a picture of her, I thought she was very beautiful. Stunning, even. But was I actually _attracted_ to her? No. Not at all. Of course, I didn’t tell Kamek that. Even though she was beautiful beyond words could ever express, I just didn’t feel anything when I saw her gorgeous face in the paper.”

Turning himself over onto his left side to face his blue-eyed, brown-mustached beauty, Bowser continues, “Anyways, since Peach was already the ruler of her own kingdom, Kamek thought that I should try to win her heart and have her join my side, so that I could take over her kingdom, and eventually, we could rule the world together. I tried to tell him that I was done with love, but he told me that that was nonsense, and, of course, because I never wanted to disappoint him, I forced myself to do what he suggested to me.”

While The Koopa King prattles on with his very lengthy but truthful story, Luigi listens very closely and intently to every word that comes out of the beast's mouth, his mind unable to wander off from his gruff but oddly soothing voice.

“I tried for weeks to get Peach to love me. I asked her on dates, bought her flowers and chocolate, and all that crap women usually like. But, she always rejected me. Every single time. And then one evening, things really went downhill. I traveled all the way back over to her kingdom for like the millionth time that month, dressed in my nicest, black tux, with a bouquet of Piranha Plants in one hand and a heart-shaped box of fire chocolates in the other, hoping she’d finally change her mind so I could take her out to a marvelous dinner back at my castle. When she opened the door and saw that it was me again, she told me right then and there, that she would _never_ love me, no matter how hard I might try to woo her. She said that she could _never_ love someone as evil, and vicious, and as cruel as I was. And when she slammed the door on my face, that about did it for me. I couldn’t contain myself any longer. That last time she said no to me, I snapped. I completely lost my mind. I was tired of waiting around for her to fall in love with me, only for her to turn around and reject me each time. So, I decided to _make_ her love me. _By force._ And ever since that day, I started kidnapping her and forcing her to marry me against her will, all so I could have the approval from my own, damn father.”

Rolling over onto his back and resting his hands underneath his horned cranium again, Bowser ends his story with, “And Kamek completely supported me with my choice to forcibly marry her. No surprise there...”

“Wow,” Luigi utters, totally lost for words, “I- I don’t know what to say... I feel kind of bad for you, Bowser.”

“Pfft. You don’t need to feel bad for me, Luigi. I don’t deserve your sympathy. I acted like such a spoiled, rotten jackass all my life, that I don’t deserve anybody’s sympathy. As much as I’d like to blame Kamek for making me the person I was before I met you, I can’t. He may not have helped much, but, I could’ve easily chosen not to listen to him and be my own person. But, I didn’t. I chose to be a horrible, evil king and do such horrible, evil things to people. To the entire universe, even. For God’s sake, I use to try and _kill_ you and your brother, just so I could get my own way! Or, Kamek’s way, for that matter. And I knew what I was doing was wrong, but, I didn’t care. As long as I had the care and support from the guy who took me in when I was in jeopardy of losing everything as a child, I didn’t care if it meant I had to terrorize a sweet, innocent woman and everyone else in her kingdom.”

Bowser then shakes his head and groans in disgust with himself as he stares blankly into the heavenly, starlit, night sky, regretting every decision he has ever made throughout his entire existence.

“Bowser.”

“What?”

Still not sure of what to say to lift the Koopa's spirits, Luigi slides a little closer to his crestfallen man and embraces him tightly in his arms.

“I love you. Just know that you’re loved. By me, and all your kids.”

“I don’t think Roy loves me anymore.”

“He’ll come around, trust me. I have faith that he will.”

”I sure hope so.”

“Mario may not believe that you have changed, but _I_ do. **I _know_ you've changed,** Bowser, and I am so proud of you.”

“Well, I owe it all to you, Luigi.”

As Bowser raises the plumber's green cap a smig and brushes his dark brown hair to the side, he then gently places a great, big smooch in the middle of his forehead.

“Of all the people in the universe to be stranded in the middle of the desert with, I’m glad it’s _you.”_

“Me too, big guy. Me too.”

Lying there on the desert ground, still completely lost and their stomachs beginning to rumble with hunger, the plumber and the beast continue to stargaze together for a little while longer until they eventually fall asleep in each other's arms.


	11. They Are Seriously In Trouble

Exactly two days have gone by since The King of the Koopas and the sidekick to the pipe fitter of The Mushroom Kingdom were magically whisked away from their homeland, being teleported thousands of miles away from civilization and without any of their basic living necessities.

As Bowser’s adolescent, purple-shelled son predicted, there is still no sign of their return back home, which came as no surprise to him.

That evening, Roy is far beyond suspicious of their absence. Up in his room, he nervously paces back and forth, wondering what he should do next.

He then decides to call Kamek one last time.

“Hello?”

“Hi Grandpa. It’s me again.”

“Good morning, Roy!” Kamek answers cheerfully, “What can I do for you today?”

“Grandpa, it’s been two days now, and dad and Luigi _still_ haven’t made it back home. My patience is really starting to run thin here. _Where are they?”_

“Kiddo, I already told you that they are here with me! Trust me, they are perfectly safe and will be back home soon!”

Roy stops for a few seconds to come up with a way to expose the Magikoopa for being the liar that he believes he is.

“Well, if they’re still there with you, then put them on the phone so I can talk to them.”

“I- I would, but-”

“But what?”

“Well… w- what do you need to tell them, anyway?“

“It’s none of your damn business what I need to tell them! Put them on the phone _right now!”_

Kamek then covers up the phone's speaker with his hand as he hastily tries to think of how he can get out of this fishy situation.

With no ideas coming to mind, instead, the elderly Magikoopa abruptly ends the call.

Roy’s suspicions have now been confirmed. Something _has_ happened to his father and his father’s true love.

Problem is, he does not know _what_ happened to them.

The royal Koopa Kid then sprints as fast as his legs can carry him and his shell down the spiral stairs and into the dining room, where he finds his brothers and sister in the middle of breakfast. 

“Ah, Roy! There you are!” Ludwig says, “Please, sit! Your breakfast is getting cold.“

“Thanks Ludwig, but I don’t got the time right now,” Roy states as he turns his attention onto his sister, “Wendy, I need to talk to you in private.”

“But, Iʼm eating-“

“Itʼs _really_ important! Please, just come with me!”

Every other Koopa at the dinner table stares at Roy and then at Wendy in total confusion.

The bratty sister of the bunch then groans and rolls her light blue eyes in repugnance, as she hops out of her seat and follows her brother upstairs.

Once back up on the second floor of the castle, Roy then carelessly shoves Wendy into his bedroom and quickly shuts the door behind him.

“Okay Roy, what is it that you need to tell me that was _so_ important that you had to interrupt me from breakfast?” Wendy asks, a bit peeved but worried at the same time, “Also, did you really have to push me?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want anyone to find out.”

“Find out about what? Did you talk to grandpa again?”

“Yeah, and you’ll never guessed what happened!”

“What?”

“I asked him to put dad or Luigi on the phone so I could talk to them, and then granddad hung up on me!”

“He did?”

“Yes!”

“For real?”

_“Yes!”_

In that moment, realization hits Wendy harder than a Super Hammer. Her big brother has been telling the truth all along.

“I can’t believe it. You mean to tell me that grandpa was... _lying_ to us?”

“I think so, sis!”

“Oh my goodness… **they’re seriously in trouble,** Roy! What do you think he did with them?!”

“I don’t know, but we’re gonna find out!”

“How?”

“We’re gonna go down there to granddadʼs house and force the truth out of him! And if he refuses to tell us, then I’m kicking his ass!”

Right as the two Koopalings run back downstairs and swing the gateway to the castle wide open, he and his sister are immediately greeted with Luigi’s older brother and his top hat-like companion.

“Ugh. What do you want, Mario?” Roy frustratingly asks.

“Well, I came over here to visit my brother. I’m worried about him. I’ve been trying to get a hold of him for a while now and he has not returned any of my calls!”

Roy and Wendy then quietly latch the door shut behind them to make sure that their siblings in the next room don’t overhear them.

“Guys, itʼs not good.”

“Whatʼs not good?” Cappy asks.

“Your brother isn’t here, Mario, and neither is our dad.” Wendy states.

“They haven’t been here for a few days now,” Roy adds, “We think they may be in trouble!”

“What do you mean that they may be in trouble?” Mario asks.

“Our grandpa Kamek invited them over to his house for lunch to apologize for how he treated them, and then all of a sudden, he told us that they were going to spend a couple of nights there with him,” Wendy states.

“But when I called granddad this morning and asked to talk to them, he hung up on me,” Roy adds.

Uncertain as to whether or not they should believe the two Koopalings, Mario and Cappy decide to take the risk and take their word this time.

“Goodness! That sounds awfully suspicious to me!” Cappy states.

“Yeah, me too!” Mario adds.

“Come on, weʼre heading over to his place to pay him a little visit,” Roy mentions.

“Here, we can take the Odyssey! It will be faster than running over there on foot!” Mario states.

“Just tell me where this Kamek fellow lives and we’ll be there in a jiffy!” Cappy mentions.

  


* * *

  


Once the gang has safely landed the Odyssey in the Magikoopa’s front lawn, Roy quickly hops out and repeatedly pounds on the entrance to Kamek’s shell-shaped house with his fist.

“Granddad! _Granddad!_ Open up! I know you did something to dad and Luigi! _Open up!”_

He then tries to break in by twisting the knob on the door.

“Dammit! It’s locked!”

“Uh, Roy. I don’t think grandpa is here,” Wendy comments.

“Yeah, it looks pretty empty inside,” Mario adds.

Joining the others at the window to the right side of the front door, Roy takes off his pink shades and peers inside.

The living room appears completely void of any form of life.

As everyone splits up and looks in through different parts of the residence, it is clearly evident that the elderly Magikoopa is not home.

Not even Bowser and Luigi are anywhere to be found.

“That pointy hatted bastard!” Roy exclaims, “He really isn’t home, is he?”

“He must’ve figured that you’d come over at some point, so he went and hit the road!” Cappy suggests.

“Where do you think he could’ve gone?” Mario asks.

“I don’t know, but we don’t got time to be searching all over the place for him! For all we know, our dad and your brother could be dead by now!”

“Well, what do you think we should do then, Roy?” Wendy asks.

The tough, brawny Koopa then ponders for a moment, and then mutters, “Well, there’s one person I know who could help us...”

“Who?”

“C’mon everyone. Let’s head back to the castle. And quick!”


	12. Gone Forever

Once the Bonneter has navigated his top hat-esque mode of transportation back to Bowser’s castle, everyone immediately deboards the airship and bursts through the familiar, tall, metal doors leading into the throne room, where they find Ludwig still parked on the king’s royal seat, writing music on a sheet of paper.

“Ludwig, there you are!” Roy exclaims, “We need your help!”

“What’s the matter, Roy?” Ludwig questions.

Looking up from his project, the Koopaling temporarily in charge becomes surprised to see Mario and Cappy standing beside his younger brother and sister.

“Mario?”

“Ciao, Ludwig,” Mario says, tipping his signature, red hat.

“And, uh…?”

“Cappy. Nice to meet you!”

“You too…” Ludwig mutters as he sits himself up and sets his composition aside, “What’s going on here, Roy? Is our father returning home yet?”

“No! Granddad kidnapped him and Luigi, and then took off somewhere!”

“What? I don’t understand. Why would he do such a thing? I thought they were all getting along just fine! At least, that’s what you told me!”

“It’s a long story and I’ll tell you all about it later on, but right now, we need your help! You’re really good with your magic and whatnot. Do you think you can cast a spell or whatever to figure out where they are?”

“Hmm… I suppose I could give it a try...”

After taking a moment’s thought to remember the exact spell needed to perform and exactly how to perform it, Ludwig then picks up his trusty magic wand laying by his side and stands on the seat of the throne.

“Alright everyone! Stand back!”

As the gang slowly inches away, the young, temporary king closes his eyes and shifts every bit of his concentration and energy onto his magic.

He then steadily waves his wand in a rather swift and light manner, like a conductor waving a baton.

After a full minute has passed, his delicate movements stop, and Ludwig casts an enormous cloud of white light to his right side.

Everybody standing at the foot of the royal throne groans and shields their faces from the intensity of the brightness flooding into their pupils.

They all then start to notice many different shapes, colors, and various other visual effects indescribable to the human mind, trying to form some sort of picture.

“Everyone, look! I think I can see something!” Wendy announces.

The group stares deeper into the cloud of light.

Sure enough, as plain as the moustaches on the plumbers’ faces, two very familiar figures appear, trudging through hill after hill of sand and cacti underneath the equally as lit, boiling hot sun.

“It’s Luigi and Bowser!” Cappy states.

“Yes,” Ludwig affirms, “It appears as though grandpa Kamek has teleported them to the Dry Dry Desert.”

“Mamma mia. They’re not looking so good!” Mario comments.

“Correct. They have gone far too long without the consumption of food or water. Us Koopas can survive for weeks without those necessities. Humans... well, not so much.”

While closely observing the critical state that the beast and green plumber are in, the gang then tunes into the duo’s tired and weary conversation.

“Bowser...” Luigi whispers, barely audible.

“Yeah?”

“I... I don’t know how much further I can go on.”

“We have to keep moving, Luigi.”

“No, Bowser. I... I-“

Before he can finish his sentence, all of a sudden, Luigi loses his equilibrium and topples over, landing face first into the sand.

Everybody watching from the castle gasps in fear.

Bowser then quickly kneels down next to his lover, flips him over onto his backside, and picks him up in his giant, scaly mitts.

“Luigi? Luigi, come on! Damnit, don’t give up on me now! Please! _Get up!”_

“No Bowser, I can’t. I… I don’t think I can hold out much longer. I- I can feel my body shutting down. It’s up to you now. Go and save yourself. J- Just leave me here to die.”

“No! _I won’t!_ If you die out here, I die out here _with you!”_

As giant tears begin to roll off of the beast’s face, he chokes out, “I- I love you, Luigi! I love you _so_ much!”

“I love you too, Bowser. Thank you for making me the happiest man in the whole world. Even though our time together was short lived, it was the best time of my life. You were the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Lifting his feeble, shaky arm up to touch Bowser’s face, Luigi whispers, “I love you, Bowser. Forever and always. Please, don’t ever forget that.”

Unable to keep his sadness under wraps any longer, The Koopa King breaks down and begins to violently weep, as he ever so gently brings his dying man up to his soft, smooth, squishy chest.

Cradling the plumber in his massive arms, Bowser whispers out loud, over and over:

_Help. Please. Someone. Help._

Having such difficulty comprehending all that he has just seen and heard, Mario utters, “I don’t believe it. Luigi was telling the truth... Bowser truly _does_ love him!”

“Oh my goodness! Ludwig, quick! Do something! Luigi is about to _die!”_ Wendy shrieks.

“You know teleportation, right? Teleport them back here _now!”_ Roy demands.

“Alright, alright! This is going to take all of my magical ability to do this, but… here goes!”

Ludwig then raises his wand high up into the air and points it directly to the ceiling, as the dark blue gem that matches his fabulous, dark blue hair illuminates like a Luma.

A huge magical beam of blue light then shoots out, causing the entire room to shake and shutter.

With his eyes shut tightly and his face scrunched, Ludwig screams bloody murder, as he feels the life being rapidly sucked out of his very being.

All of a sudden, everything comes to a standstill, and the eldest Koopaling tumbles off of the throne and plummets down onto the hard, unforgiving, stone floor, landing directly on top of his shell.

Everyone then runs and stands around the young, reptilian individual, who is hardly conscious and unable to move his limbs.

“Ludwig? Luddy, speak to me! Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he breathes.

“Were you able to bring them back here?” Wendy asks.

“Yes. If my calculations were correct, they should have been teleported to the master bedroom.”

As Roy picks up and throws his older brother over his shoulder, he and the rest of the group proceed to sprint out of the throne room and up the two flights of spiral stairs to the third floor of the castle.

  


* * *

  


A huge, flash of bright, blue appears.

_Thud._

Startled, the starving, debilitated beast stops crying, open his eyes, and looks around.

“Well I’ll be a son of a bitch…” Bowser mumbles.

Although his tears are still blurring his vision, it is very clear to him that in some way, like someone has answered his prayers, he and Luigi have been transported back to his royal kingdom and into his royal castle.

A passing guard, alarmed by the sudden, loud thump, barges into the bedroom.

He blinks a few times, utterly dumbfounded, but well beyond ecstatic by who he sees in front of him.

“Lord Bowser! Luigi! You two have returned!”

There they laid, The all-powerful and super macho Koopa King, sitting cross-legged on the hardwood floor and resting his shelled back up against his master bed, with his kind-hearted, plumber companion wrapped in his arms, gravely ill and barely clinging to life.

“Quick, soldier! Bring us something to eat!” Bowser commands.

“Wait, where have you tw-“

“Don’t just stand there asking me questions! Bring me food _now!_ He’s _dying!”_

“Yes sir! Right away, sir!”

In the meantime, as Bowser and Luigi stay put on the floor, impatiently waiting for their more than needed nourishment, their rescue crew alerts the others that their father has finally returned home.

Each Koopaling, all beyond thrilled and exhilarated to hear the news, dash out of their rooms and push and shove their way up the second set of stairs, practically knocking each other down in the process.

As everybody sprints into the king’s private chambers, their hopes are confirmed.

“Dad! Luigi!” Roy yells.

“You guys are back!” Wendy screams in delight.

Excitedly crowding around The Koopa King and his boyfriend, each kid begins asking them both question after question about their absence and their time at Kamek’s house.

“Papa! Where have you been?” Junior questions.

“We missed you!” Larry states, “Where did you guys go?”

“Did you guys have fun at grandpa’s?” Lemmy asks, unaware of the whole situation, “We _really_ missed you! You _and_ Mr. Luigi!”

Everyone then pauses and draws their attention onto the limp, pale-skinned plumber in their father’s hands, almost unresponsive to their presence.

“What’s up with him?” Morton asks.

“He’s not looking so good,” Junior comments.

“Yeah, really. What happened to him?” Iggy questions, also closely inspecting his father, “You don’t look too well either, dad.”

“What did grandpa do to you and Luigi?” Lemmy asks, “Did he hurt you guys?”

Before anyone can answer, the same guard bursts in with a large platter of food.

“Here, your majesty! I brought you all of the leftover drumsticks from in the refrigerator!”

Bowser then snatches one off the plate and places it in front of Luigi’s mouth.

“Here. Eat.”

“W- What about you?”

_“Just eat!”_

Luigi then weakly arches his neck up to take a bite of the cold, refrigerated meat.

All eyes intently watch the green plumber, who appears to be struggling tremendously to perform the simplest of actions.

Suddenly, his head falls back onto the palm of Bowser’s hand, as his eyelids close and his breathing ceases altogether.

“Luigi! _Luigi!”_ Bowser yells, shaking the plumber’s chest.

Panicking immensely, with his heart pumping and his mind racing as fast as a go-kart clocked at 200cc, the beast howls at the top of lungs, “ _Help!_ Somebody! _Help!!!”_

Bowser’s personal care physicians then immediately bust down the door and enter the bedroom, carrying in various types of medical equipment and machines.

“Clear the way!”

“Please, step back!”

“Okay, look here, everyone who is not in need of medical attention is going to have to leave the room _right now!”_

And everybody does just that, as the guard leads them all into the guest room a few doors down.

  


* * *

  


Hours creep by.

It feels like it has been days.

Months, even.

 _Tick, tock, tick, tock_ goes the second hand of the clock on the wall.

Within this amount of time, Luigi has been hooked up to multiple medical machines, monitoring crucial stats like his heart rate, blood pressure, and brain activity.

Doctors have tried many different methods to bring the green plumber back to life, like sending shocks through his chest to restart his heart and pumping his body fully of fluids.

Unfortunately, these few methods resulted in failure.

The excruciatingly painful and severely irritated blisters on the pads of Bowser’s feet have been treated, he has showered, and he has been given enough food and water to bring his health and energy back up to an acceptable level.

Ludwig, although still considerably frail, is now far more awake and alert, and is now able to sit upright and walk with assistance.

Even more hours tick by.

Each second feels like a minute. Each minute feels like an hour.

Everyone sits in total silence, as they all anxiously wait to know the results of the plumber’s health.

Eventually, a doctor knocks on the door to the guest room and walks in.

“How is he, doctor?” Bowser asks.

“Yeah, how’s my brother?” Mario questions, sharing the same amount of concern.

The doctor inhales deeply, and speaks softly, “We did everything we could, but, I’m afraid... we were not able to save him.”

“You mean...?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. Shortly after you two arrived back, Luigi slipped into an irreversible coma, and then soon after, all of his vital organs, including his poor heart, began to shut down, one by one. His reason of death was due to starvation and severe heat stroke.”

The beast and the red plumber stare at each other in absolute dismay.

“I am so sorry, you two.”

Bowser stands there, completely still, a blank expression growing across his face, as he develops a very unsettling, thousand yard stare into the wall in front of him.

Almost like he is stuck in a trance.

“Bowser? Bowser? Are you still with us?” Mario asks, waving his hand in front of Bowser’s eyes.

The Koopa King then drops down to the floor on his knees and bellows out a high-pitched, ear-shattering roar, causing his entire kingdom and everybody in and near it to quake.

He then crawls over to a corner of the room, with his front end facing the wall, and retreats deep into his shell, as he breaks out into the biggest, loudest crying fit anyone has ever seen or heard him in.

After sharing a few minutes of exchanging sad and emotional glances with each other, all of the king’s children, along with his biggest enemy and his enemy’s floating friend, tiptoe behind the royal Koopa and kneel down beside him, as everyone hugs onto his rugged, spiked shell and grieve along with him.

_I can’t believe it. He’s gone. The only man I’ll ever truly love. Taken away from me by my own father. Gone. **Gone forever.**_

 

Date/Time of Death:  
October 11, 9:03 PM

R.I.P. Luigi


	13. He Must Be Punished

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, this chapter gets _very_ dark, even darker than the last chapter (probably another reason why I felt that the rating had to be changed to Mature). I just through everyone should know this, so read at your own risk.

The clock strikes midnight.

Bowser, still tucked into a corner of the guest room, has ran out of tears.

He sits there on the hardwood floor in total darkness, rocking back and forth in a fetal position.

The more he rocks, the more he feels that he is losing his mind.

He feels like his entire world has came crashing down on top of him, piercing through the shelled armor that rests upon his back.

As Bowser sways faster and faster, anger and rage begin to swell up inside.

The faint ticks of the second hand seem to grow louder and louder with each passing second.

_I hate Kamek. I fucking hate him so much. **He must be punished** for what he has done._

Pushing his intense emotions aside, the beast tries to think of a way to penalize the Magikoopa for his man’s murder.

_How could I possibly go about punishing him, though? I can’t just take away his magic wand and lock him up in one of my dungeon cells. Even without his wand, he’s so powerful and knows so many magic spells that he’ll be out of there in minutes._

Unable to find a better course of action to take in this tricky situation, Bowser stands to his feet and whispers to himself, “I guess I have no other choice. To ensure the safety of me, my kids, and my kingdom, I’m going to have to _kill_ him.”

As he blindly trips and stumbles his way out of the guest room, The Koopa King hurries downstairs and to his youngest son’s room and knocks on the door.

Not surprising to him, Junior, along with everyone else, is still awake and very mournful.

“Hey Papa,” He answers softly, “How are you feeling?”

“Never mind that right now, Junior,” Bowser interrupts, kneeling down to his son’s level, “Listen to me. Your papa needs to ask you for a _big_ favor.”

“Like what?”

“Do you still happen to have your lock-picking kit on you?”

“Of course. Hang on a second…”

Junior walks over to his child-sized bedside table, opens the top drawer, and pulls out a small, plastic, rectangular case. In it are various kinds of picks, each consisting of many different shaped hooks on each end.

“Here you go, pop.”

“Thanks kiddo.”

“But can I ask, what do you plan on using it for?”

“Let’s just say, I’m going to set your grandpa straight, son,” Bowser murmurs darkly, “After I’m done dealing with him, I don’t think he’ll be bothering any of us ever again...”

Taken aback by his dad’s strange and rather unsettling response, Junior stutters, “Oh. O- Okay. Well, c- can you please bring it back to me when you’re done?”

“Of course I can, kiddo. Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome, papa. B- Be careful with whatever you’re about to do, okay?”

“I will, son.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Bowser assures his boy, as he pats him on his tiny head and flashes him a wide, toothy grin.

Junior awkwardly smiles back, still feeling a little uneasy as he can clearly see the crazy in his father’s eyes.

The beastly king then makes a mad dash out of his son’s bedroom and out the front door of his royal fortress, sprinting across the drawbridge and down to the area where he keeps his trusty Koopa Clown Copter.

Bowser climbs in, fires it up, and immediately takes off for the malicious Magikoopa’s home address.

Little does he know, someone is secretly following behind him.

  


* * *

  


Within about ten minutes, Bowser has reached his destination.

He pulls down on a small lever to perform a slow and steady descent to the lush, grassy terrain below, making sure to land a good distance away so as to not be seen or heard by Kamek.

As Bowser grabs Junior’s lock-picking kit and hops out, a tall, brawny, turtle-esque silhouette emerges from the shadows.

“ ‘Sup dad?”

“Roy! Dammit son, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry about that.”

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“I overheard you talking to Junior about _visiting_ granddad,” Roy states, making air quotes around the word ‘visiting.’

Bowser simply lets out a long, loud sigh and nods his head.

“You’re out here to _kill_ him, aren’t you?”

“Yes, son. I am. Your old man is planning to _kill_ your grandfather.” 

“Oh. I see...”

They then stand there under the bright, moonlit sky, as they avoid eye contact with each other, unsure of what to say next.

After a minute or so has passed, Roy blurts out, “Well, I canʼt allow you to do that, dad.”

“Look, Roy-“

“Wait, you didnʼt let me finish.”

Confused, Bowser cocks an eyebrow up at his teenage son.

“I canʼt let you do this, because… Because, _I_ want to kill him.” 

“What?” 

“ _I_ want to be the one to kill grandpa Kamek. For you, dad.”

Stunned by Roy’s surprising and insane offer, Bowser stammers out, “N- No! No way! A- Absolutely not, Roy! There is _no_ way _in hell_ that Iʼm about to let you-“

“Dad, stop! Listen to me! Itʼs _my_ fault that all this happened! Luigi is dead, and it’s all because of _me!_ If only I hadn’t acted like a total dick and told granddad on you guys, none of this would have ever happened!”

“Roy, look at me,” Bowser commands as he plants his hands down on Roy’s shoulders, “This is _not your fault.”_

“What? H- How can you say that?! _I’m_ the one who told granddad that you were dating Luigi! _I’m_ the one who-“ 

“It doesnʼt matter that you told my father about me and Luigi dating. He wouldʼve eventually found out on his own anyway, and he would’ve acted the _very same way.”_

“Really?”

“Yes, Roy. Trust me. He would have. How he acted towards us was all on _him._ You had _nothing_ to do with your grandpa’s actions. Okay? You understand what I’m saying, son?”

Looking directly into his father’s calm, assuring, scarlet-colored eyes, shining brightly in the starry, midnight sky, Roy nods and says, “Dad, I am really, _really_ sorry for how I treated you and Luigi.”

“Itʼs okay, son-”

“No. Itʼs _not_ okay, dad. I still feel really guilty for what I did. I acted like such an insufferable piece of crap towards you guys! Thereʼs nothing wrong with two dudes who want to share a love greater than anything else in the whole wide world! I see that now. I just wish I wouldʼve saw that in the first place...” 

Bowser then beams a heart-warming smile from his son’s change of heart, and states, “That’s very mature of you, Roy. I’m happy to see you are finally understanding the error of your ways like I have. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks, dad. But to make sure granddad doesn’t try to kill you again, ‘cause, let’s be real here, he’s gonna keep trying and trying again until he succeeds… I still must kill _him first!”_

Suddenly, before Bowser can even react, Roy swipes the lock-picking kit from his father’s hand and bolts down the long, winding pathway leading to Kamekʼs secluded, turtle shell-shaped, two story house. 

“Damnit Roy! Stop right there!” Bowser calls out as he chases after his son.

Already standing on the porch steps, with his father only about a yard away, Roy puts out his hand and whispers, “Dad, stop! Iʼm doing this and _thatʼs that!_ If I donʼt do this for you, Iʼll never get over the guilt that Iʼm feeling! I _have_ to do this!”

The fatherly beast glares down at his teenage son, realizing that he has no other choice.

The purple-shelled Koopaling is very adamant about doing this bad deed, and nothing will change his mind.

All that Bowser can do is accept his decision and mutter, “Alright, son. Go for it. But please, be careful. He’s very powerful.”

“I will, dad.”

Roy then faces the front door and takes out a couple of random picks.

He sticks one pick into the top of the keyhole and the other into the bottom, applying slight pressure to the hole as he slowly rubs the top pick back and forth.

At last, the door is unlocked.

As Roy sneaks into Kamek’s modest dwelling and tiptoes up the staircase, he instantly spots the bedroom door and ever so steadily creaks it open, trying his absolute best not to make a single noise.

There he laid, the sinister and murderous Magikoopa, sleeping as peacefully as a baby, with his shell resting against the foot of his bed and his magic wand laying on top of his dresser.

Roy creeps in.

_Please don’t wake up. Please don’t wake up. Please don’t wake up!_

Hovering over his grandfather, with the angriest face that has ever formed across his face, Roy rips the covers off the bed and pins Kamek to the wall.

“What the hellʼs going on here?! W- Whoʼs there?!”

“Hello grandpa.”

“Roy?! W- What in the world do you think youʼre doing, young man?! Put me down _this instant!”_

“Not a chance, you old geezer! I have had _enough_ of you!”

“H- How did you even get in-“

“Never mind how I got in!” Roy exclaims as he smashes Kamek harder into the wall, “Luigi is _dead_ because of you! The one man my dad had his heart set on is _fucking dead,_ all because you were stuck in your old, stupid, homophobic ways!”

“Itʼs not right, what your father-“

 _“Shut up! Youʼre wrong!_ There is _nothing_ wrong with him falling in love with another man! All these years, youʼve been dictating his life for him. Pushing him to fall in love with and marry a woman who was never in love with him in the first place. You knew that dad never wanted to disappoint you, ‘cause he knew that if he did, he would lose you, the only father figure he’s only ever truly known. So you thought you could manipulate and control him to have things _your_ way! He may be your son, but he’s the one who’s royalty here! _He_ rules over _you,_ not the other way around, dipshit!”

All the while Roy jabbers his ear off, Kamek attempts to inconspicuously bring his magic wand within his grasp through telekinesis.

The teenage Koopa immediately notices that his grandfather is no longer focused on his overly long, drawn-out speech and reacts through his battling instinct.

He slams the wand down onto the floor and stomps down on it with his foot, cancelling out its magic.

“Dad was finally happy once he decided to go against your wishes and date a man,” Roy continues, “Someone who he’d actually be in love with. Maybe even someone to share the throne with him one day. But because of your damn selfishness and stupidity, you’ve taken all of that _away from him!!!”_

“W- What are you going to do t- to me?”

“Because you killed Luigi, Iʼm gonna kill _you.”_

“No, no no no, please-“

Roy then quickly takes his right hand and grabs Kamek by the throat and opens the bedroom window with his other hand.

“No, please Roy!” Kamek chokes out, “Letʼs be rational here-“

In that very moment, the Magikoopa suddenly finds himself pitched out of his room and out of his house, falling as fast as a Thwomp stomping the ground.

“Aaaaahh!” He screams, forgetting that he can use his magic to break his fall.

_Wham!_

Kamek’s body smacks the ground hard, and lands only inches away from his exceedingly irate and emotional beast of a son.

Once Roy has re-joined his father’s side, Kamek cries, “Ugh! Damnit Roy! You broke my back! I- I canʼt move!” 

Meeting his son’s frightening and fiendish gaze, he adds, “Bowser, c- control your damn son!”

Bowser doesn’t respond. He barely even reacts. He just stands completely still and towers over the paralyzed Magikoopa, with his arms folded in front of his chest and looking evil daggers deep into his soul.

“And now, to finish you off once and for all,” Roy announces, bending down into Kamek’s face, “Iʼm gonna roast you alive!”

“Wait! B- Bowser-“ 

_“What?!”_

“B- Before I die, thereʼs something I need to tell you.”

“What could you _possibly_ have to say to me that would change my mind about this in _any way?!”_

“Well, itʼs not going to change your mind, but i- itʼs something that you still must know about.”

Kamek takes in a huge, deep breath, exhales, and as calmly as he can, affirms, “I know who murdered your real parents.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I do.”

He pauses and looks directly into his son's eyes, dreading to give him the answer.

“Well, out with it! Who was it? Who killed my parents?”

“It was me. I killed them.”

Bowser gasps and stares down at Kamek, utterly dumbfounded by this news.

Never in his entire life would he have ever guessed that the man who took him under his wing and raised him since he was a toddler, was actually the killer of The Koopa Kingdom’s previous rulers.

The killer of his birth parents.

“I- It was you?”

“Yes, son. It was me all along. I did it. I did it so I could later on adopt you, live off of your inherited fortune, and temporarily be in charge of things until you were old enough to become king yourself. I did it out of pure greed.”

_So, it was him. I should've know. It was him all along! I don’t believe this. He never cared about me. He never cared about my parents, my brother, my sister… he never cared about anyone! He only cared about his damn self! How could I have not seen this coming? How could I have been so blind? How could I have been so fucking stupid?!_

With steam profusely flowing out of his nostrils, his right eye rapidly twitching, and huge, fat tears rolling down his cheeks and off his face, Bowser throws his arms up above his shoulders, splays his fingers, and roars at the top of his lungs, as he shoots out out a gigantic stream of fire that spurts out of his massive, tooth-studded jaw.

The Earth starts to convulse fiercely with each powerful, ear-deafening, dinosaur-like screech.

The king’s roaring is so loud and powerful, that trees in the distance can be heard collapsing and plummeting to the ground.

Grabbing the already disabled Magikoopa by his whole body, with enough force to snap his spine in half like a twig, the beast brings him right up to his steaming snout and shrieks, “I can’t _believe_ what I am hearing! This whole time, _you_ were the one who killed my parents?! And then you _really_ had the _nerve_ to adopt me, pretend to care about me, and _force_ me to live under your rotten, no-good rules and be someone who I was not?! Do you realize how badly you’ve _fucked up my life!!!”_

“I- Iʼm sorr-“

“Oh, thatʼs the fucking joke of the century! Youʼre _sorry?!”_

Bowser then slams Kamek down onto the concrete walkway and shouts, “What a laugh! What a fucking _joke_ you are! You are an absolute _disgrace_ to the Koopa name!”

Turning his attention to Roy, Bowser asks, “You ready, son?”

“Ready, dad.”

“Let’s burn this bastard.”

Both royal beasts slowly take in a humongous breath of air, as their throats begin to burn hotter than an Angry Sun.

They stop, glance over at each other, and nod their heads.

Together, they then unleash an enormous blast of blazing hot, blue fire, covering every inch of the murderous Magikoopa's body.

“Aaaahh! Aaaaaahh!! Please son, _stop this!_ I beg you!! _Stop!!!_ Have mercy on me!!! I’ll do anything you want! _Anything!!_ Please, just _make it stop!!!”_

As the pool of fire continues to consume his very being, Kamek wildly whips his head about from side to side, while he desperately, and unsuccessfully, tries to move any of his other limbs or use any of his magical powers.

Soon after, the Magikoopa’s screams of terror lessen, as his old heart succumbs to the heat of the flames.

“Goodbye son. I’m sorry I was such a burden on you.”

He then rests his head off to the side, facing his killers, and takes his final, last breath.

Convinced that he has finally passed away, Bowser runs into Kamek’s house and grabs his fire extinguisher.

After he and Roy have put out the fire, they stare down at the Magikoopa’s charred remains, utterly shocked by what they have accomplished.

They have just committed their own murder.

Bowser sighs, shakes his head in utter disgust with himself, and says under his breath, “Iʼm sorry that it had to end this way, dad.”

Turning to his son, he mutters, “C'mon. Letʼs just get out of here...”

“Alright, dad.”

They then hop back into their individual Clown Copters and fly back to the castle.

  


* * *

  


As they both cross the moat and re-enter their royal stronghold, the king and his teenage son trudge upstairs to their rooms, ignoring each of the soldiers’ multiple questions of where they were or what happened.

Once tucked into his bed, Bowser reaches for his smartphone and swipes through his photos.

He stops on one particular photo and stares at it.

On screen, is a selfie he took of himself and Luigi out on their third date.

That day, they spent the evening in Neo Bowser City. Instead of anything fancy, they decided to order take-out food and watch the sunset together from in their Koopa Clown Copter, hovering miles and miles up into the clouds.

“Well Luigi, I did it. I killed him. I killed Kamek. I know youʼve taught me that violence never solved anything, but, I had no other choice. I'm sorry.”

Starting to become choked up, he ends with, “Wherever you may be, if you’re watching down on me, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I love you, Luigi. You were my first true love. I will never forget you.”

The brokenhearted Koopa King then puts his phone into sleep mode, lays it to his side, and returns to his activity from before.

Retreating into his shell and grieving once again.


	14. I Am Glad He Found You

“I don’t know what to think, Cappy. Peach and I haven’t heard from Bowser in over a week. I’m starting to get very worried about him.”

“Yeah. Me too, Mario.”

Gazing out the small, circular window, Mario can see The Koopa King’s castle popping out from behind the bizarrely bewitching and rainbow-colored clouds that surround it and the entire kingdom.

“We’re getting close.”

“Alright, I’ll bring it in for a landing.”

Once the Odyssey has touched down, the red plumber jumps out and looks back at his Bonneter buddy.

“Sorry I can’t stick around, Mario. Tiara still _really_ needs my help with making a few renovations to her home.”

“I understand. It's no big deal.”

“Just give me a call whenever you’re ready to leave.”

“Will do, Cappy. Thanks again.”

“It’s no trouble. Bye now!”

Cappy then shuts the window and flies his red and white, top hat-like airship back through the thick cloud coverage, as Mario proceeds to walk across the lengthy drawbridge leading up to the royal stronghold.

He stops in front of the tall, metal doors and knocks.

“Morning, Mario.”

“Morning, Ludwig. Is your father home?”

“Yes he is. Please, come in.”

While the Koopaling, who still appears to be in charge of things, leads the plumber up the two flights of stairs, Mario asks, “How has everybody here been since, you know...?”

“Not well. Not well at all. Everyone has just been moping around and not doing a whole lot of anything. Especially dad. He hasn't left his room since that night he went and killed grandpa Kamek.”

“Wait, he did what now?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard yet?”

“No?”

“Well, to make a long story short, a few hours after Luigi had passed away, he and Roy broke into Kamek’s house and burned him alive.”

“Mamma mia…” Mario mutters, “They really did that?”

“Yes. They did. And I guess before Kamek died, he told dad that _he_ was the one who killed his birth parents.”

“Goodness gracious…”

“I know. He has been such a wreck ever since. Weʼre all really worried about him. All he does anymore is lie in bed and sleep. And if heʼs not sleeping, heʼs up crying. He doesn’t want to eat, he doesn’t want to talk to or see anybody, and he only gets up out of bed to use the bathroom.”

“My goodness...”

“It gets even worse though.”

Ludwig stops dead in his tracks and continues, “Have you ever heard the phrase, _‘If I had to live without you, I’d die of stress and depression before nature killed me?’ ”_

“Yes?”

“Well, if his mood doesn't let up soon, he _will_ die.”

“What?”

“I‘m afraid it’s true. If a Koopa is devastated enough over the loss of a loved one, they will literally _die_ of a broken heart. It’s the sad, grim truth, unfortunately...”

Mario wordlessly stares wide-eyed at the blue-haired Koopaling, as fear and consternation fall upon his brown-mustached face.

As they trudge up the last few steps and knock on Bowserʼs bedroom door, they faintly hear him make a long, drawn-out, muffled groan.

“Who is it?”

“Itʼs me, father. Mario has come here to talk with you.”

After a few seconds, Bowser groans again and mumbles, “Send him in, I guess...”

Ludwig then opens the door, and he and Mario both cautiously tiptoe in, unsure of what to expect when they enter the room.

Immediately, they find the sullen king where he has been for the past week and a half: Lying on top of his bed and still cooped up inside his own shell. In fact, Bowser has stayed in this one spot for so long that he has actually sunk a little into the mattress from his own weight.

“Will you be needing anything else, father?”

“No. Thatʼll be all, Ludwig. Thank you.”

“Not a problem. If you need anything else, Iʼll be on the throne.”

As the eldest Koopa Kid walks out of the bedroom and delicately latches the door behind him, the red plumber creeps up to the side of the beast’s king-size bed.

“How are you holding up, Bowser?”

“Horribly. How does it look like Iʼm holding up?”

He then sighs and pokes his head out of his shell so he can see Marioʼs face.

“Sorry, that was rude of me.”

“You donʼt need to apologize, Bowser. I understand that you are upset.”

Mario notices from the rather red and raw skin underneath the Koopa’s eyes and cheeks that he has been sobbing and grieving for hours on end.

“May I sit?”

“Sure.”

The plumber then plops himself down on the other end of the bed, his crossed legs only about a half of a foot away from Bowser’s face.

Mario must of scrunched his face in disgust for all but a split second, as he then hears Bowser mention, “Yeah, I know I stink. I just haven’t felt like getting up long enough to take a shower.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s whatever...”

Once the tension between the two foes have simmered down, Bowser awkwardly asks, “So, how have _you_ been dealing with… well, you know…?”

“Not good either,” Mario replies.

Sniffling and fighting back more tears, Bowser mentions, “I really miss him.”

“I miss him too, Bowser. I miss him too...”

After sharing a moment of sad silence together, Mario reveals, “I saw all of what happened with you and Luigi in the desert before Ludwig teleported you two back here.”

“You did?”

“Yep. I heard what you said to him too.”

Bowser darts his embarrassed-looking eyes away and blushes, his already reddened face somehow turning even redder.

“I- I didn’t think anyone heard that…”

“I underestimated you, Bowser. You really _did_ care about Luigi.”

Beginning to tear up again, Bowser chokes out, “I did. I really did, Mario. I loved him so much.”

“And I know he really loved you too. I can’t tell you how many times I would hear from Daisy about all the things he said you did for him. You made my brother _really_ happy. I’m glad he found someone that he loved to spend the rest of his time with. **I’m glad he found _you,_** Bowser.”

The beast’s waterworks then burst. Huge, fat, water drops fall from his tear ducts, pour off of his cheeks, and onto his sunken mattress.

Mario, sitting very still and tearing up himself, listens to Bowser’s deep, booming, cries of intense sorrow and anguish.

“Mario, Iʼm sorry! I’m really sorry! I’m so, very _sorry!!!”_

“For what, Bowser?”

“For everything! Everything that I have ever done! Every evil act that I have ever schemed! Every time I tried to kidnap and marry Peach! Every time I tried to kill you! _Everything!!!”_

Mario, utterly lost for words, stares down at The Koopa King as he continues to noisily cry and roar.

“I know I can _never, ever_ make up for what Iʼve done, especially to you and Peach, but I would at least like to, somehow, try to make things right!”

“Bowser.”

“Yeah?”

The red plumber pauses to try and piece together his next thought.

“You were such an absolute jerk to me and Peach. To everyone, really. And that is a _major_ understatement.”

“I know.”

“But, considering that you have proven yourself to me and everybody else that you really _have_ changed, I would be more than happy to try to make amends with you.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“I do, Bowser. And, I’m sorry for all the things I’ve said and done to you.”

“Apology accepted.”

“Friends?”

“Friends,” Bowser says with a small but warm and cordial half-smile.

As they sit across from one another and wallow in each other’s misery, Mario says, “Ludwig mentioned to me what had happened the night Luigi passed. About what you and Roy did to Kamek...”

“The craziest and most effed-up thing is... I still regret doing it.”

“You do?”

“Uh-huh. I mean, even though he was _such_ a negative influence on me and, honestly, may have been the source of _a lot_ of my stress and depression, we still had good times together.”

“You did?”

“Yep. It’s like, at times, he really _did_ try to be a father towards me. He’d talk to me when I was feeling down or upset. He’d spend time with me when I was feeling lonely or bored. He made sure I got a very good education, and helped me out when I was struggling with a subject, mainly English and Reading. He’d even at times take me and my brother and sister out of the castle for the day and do stuff with us. Like we were all one, big, happy family. I just never thought that I’d later find out that it was all a lie. A ruse. All just a damn optical illusion he pulled on me. A really good illusion at that…”

Feeling rage and fury starting to swell up inside of him, the beast exclaims in-between sobs, “Why did he have to do this, Mario? Why did he have to take away the few people in my life that I really cared about the most?! Why did he have to be so goddamn, fucking _vile_ and _greedy!!!”_

“I wish I had the answers to everything, Bowser. I really do. But, unfortunately, I don’t,” Mario states calmly, his shimmering sky blue eyes looking deep into Bowser’s sad, scarlet-colored eyes, “I’m sorry. I wish I was more help to you.”

“It’s alright. Just being here with me is helpful enough.”

As Bowser takes in some deep breaths to calm himself down long enough to speak civilly again, he mentions, “You know, I had a dream last night. A very good dream, actually.”

“What was it about?”

“Well, in my dream, Luigi and I had just began dating. Weird thing was, we were both _teenagers,_ and Kamek was nowhere to be found. Instead, my _real_ parents were there.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. I told them my secret, that I was in a relationship with a man. I was kind of nervous. Really nervous, actually. I expected them to get mad at me and tell me that what I was doing wasn't allowed, but no. That didn’t happen at all. They were very supportive of me. They told me that, whether if I was dating a woman or a man, or a Koopa or a human, they would respect me, love me, and support me every step of the way. That evening, I invited Luigi over for dinner so my parents could finally meet him. When he got here, they were just ecstatic to meet him, telling him how happy they were that I’ve found someone to possibly share their kingdom with when I’d become old enough to be king. We all sat down at the dinner table, chatted, ate, and had a wonderful time together. My parents really liked Luigi. They liked how polite and caring he was. They were even willing to overlook the fact that he was not royalty or nowhere near as wealthy as we were. Eventually, we got married, had a beautiful family, and ruled The Koopa Kingdom together. All was well in the world. I had my birth parents by my side to support me, I never ended up doing the nasty, evil things that I did, and Luigi never died.”

“Wow, Bowser. That sounds like an amazing dream.”

“It was. It really was. I was so disappointed when I woke up. I immediately started crying again when I realized that none of what happened was real. I wanted so badly to live inside that dream forever. I don’t wanna be a part of reality anymore, Mario. I wish I were _dead_ too...”


	15. Maybe There Is a Way...

Later on that night, after Mario has went home, the next set of workers have came to fill in for the night shift, and everyone else has hit the hay, Roy tosses and turns in bed as he listens to the faint sound of his father’s crying coming from above his ceiling.

_This is awful. I feel so bad for dad. Something’s gotta be done about this soon, or else the kingdom will be left without a king and me and my siblings will be left without a dad._

He flips over onto his stomach and covers the top of his head with his pillow.

_Ugh. But what can I do about it? There’s no way dad will ever just move on and continue his life without Luigi. He’s beyond miserable without him. I wish there was some way I could just bring him back to life._

He thinks hard for a moment, desperately trying to come up with a solution to this seemingly impossible scenario.

_What am I thinking? No one knows how to bring the dead back to life with magic. Not even Kamek knew how to do that. At most, he could’ve brought Luigi back has a half-dead zombie, and that would’ve just broke dad’s heart even more seeing him like that._

Shoving his face into his mattress, he moans and says to himself, “It’s hopeless. Luigi is really gone and there’s nothing anyone can do to bring him back.”

Roy continues to lie there in that same, uncomfortable position for hours on end, paying every bit of attention to the sound of Bowser’s mournful sobs.

Then, silence.

Roy’s heart stops and his breathing increases.

_Oh no. Don’t tell me he-_

Suddenly, the sound of abundantly noisy and grating snores ring through the Koopaling’s pillow and into his eardrums.

_Oh, thanks goodness! He just cried himself to sleep. I thought for a second there he croaked!_

Eventually, after assessing his situation more, Roy remembers something super important.

He removes the pillow from around the back of his head and looks up at the wall in the dark.

“Wait a second. **Maybe there _is_ a way** to bring Luigi back to life...”

He then hops out of bed and scurries up the stairs to his father’s private chambers.

Luckily, the door is not locked.

As slowly and steadily as physically possible, Roy tiptoes into Bowser’s bedroom and creaks open his closet door.

After delicately rummaging through his father’s hoard of old, dated, and useless junk, soon enough, the teenaged Koopaling finds what he is searching for.

A short, metal safe, with, of course, Bowser’s insignia engraved on the sides.

He snatches it up into his arms and gingerly shuts the doors behind him with his leg.

Once outside the king’s master bedroom, Roy kneels down onto the hardwood flooring and sets the safe down in front of him.

After staring blankly at the safe’s knob in darkness, it then hits him.

He doesn’t remember the combination.

But, he knows someone who more than likely does. Ludwig.

Sprinting back down the second set of spiral stairs, he cracks open his older brother’s bedroom door ajar and whispers, “Psst. Ludwig?”

No response.

“Psst! Ludwig! Wake up!” Roy whispers louder.

Ludwig flops over onto his left side and reaches for the lamp on his nightstand.

“Ugh, Roy? What are you still doing up? It’s almost two in the morning.”

Noticing what his younger sibling has in his hands, he also asks, “What have you got there?”

“Dad’s safe!”

“Why do you have his-“

“Because, remember? Dad told us a long while back that he stored Life Mushrooms in this thing in case of emergencies!”

“Roy, my dear brother. I hate to tell you this, but, I don’t think that there are any left in there.”

“What do you mean you think there aren’t any left in here?”

“Don’t you remember? Our father used up the last few that he had saved in there to revive a few of his soldiers from his last squabble with Mario and the princess.”

“Well, we won’t know for sure until we open it up! You remember the combination, right?”

“Yes?”

“Well then,” Roy plops the safe right next to Ludwig’s face, “Get to it!”

Ludwig then sits up onto the edge of the bed, drags the safe closer to his side, and twists and turns the knob to the according numbers:

_8, 4, 19._

The safe door then unlatches, and Ludwig swings it open.

Both siblings stare at each other in utter excitement and astonishment.

Sure enough, Roy was right. There is only _one_ 1-Up Mushroom left.

“Oh. My. Goodness…” Ludwig mutters under his breath.

“You know what this means?” Roy asks.

“We can revive Luigi! And then our father won’t be so devastated anymore and he can resume his life again!”

“Go tell the others. I’ll go start up dad’s Clown Copter so we can all fly to the cemetery together.”

“Should I also wake dad up and tell him?”

“No, don’t. I want this to be a surprise.”

  


* * *

  


Once the rest of the gang has been woken up and has all piled into Bowser’s oversized, Clown-esque hovercopter, Wendy breaks the crazy and hectic chatter amongst everyone and asks, “Roy, do you even know exactly where Luigi was buried?”

“Yeah. Mario told me. Luigi was buried at The Mushroom Kingdom Royal Burial Grounds.”

Roy then enters in the coordinates onto the copter’s GPS tracking system and initiates the autopilot.

“And we’re off!”

“Yay! We’re gonna get Luigi back!” Lemmy exclaims.

“I can’t wait to see the look on papa’s face when he sees what we did for him!” Junior says.

“He’s gonna be so happy!” Larry adds.

“Shhh! Quiet, you guys!” Roy whispers, “This is suppose to be a surprise.”

“Oops! Sorry!”

“We’re just so excited!”

  


* * *

  


Touchdown.

After hours of flying over the many different kingdoms of the world, the royal Koopa Kids have reached The Mushroom Kingdom’s cemetery.

“Alright everyone, here’s the deal. Split up and find Luigi’s gravestone,” Roy announces, “I’m pretty sure Mario said that it was in this particular area.”

Everyone nods their heads and gives a thumbs up.

“Yell out if anyone finds it.”

After only ten minutes of searching, the green plumber’s resting place has been found.

“Guys, look!” Lemmy calls out as he hops and flaps his arms high over his head, “I found it! I found it!”

“Good job, Lems,” Roy says, kneeling down next to the gravestone, “Ludwig, give me the mushroom.”

Ludwig re-opens the safe and hands the green, glowing mushroom off to his younger sibling.

“This is it, guys. You ready?”

 _“Ready!”_ Everybody affirms in unison.

Roy gingerly places the Life Mushroom dead in the center of the hump of rich soil where Luigi’s casket resides.

And then, the magic happens.

The mushroom begins to shine, illuminating three times brighter than the thousands of Luma’s all throughout the universe.

Rays of pure, sparkling, green light shoot out of all sides of the mushroom, engulfing the plumber’s gravestone entirely.

The lights become so intense and bright, that every Koopaling has to turn their heads away and shield their eyes.

Suddenly, everything comes to a standstill. They wait. And wait. And wait.

They hear nothing.

“Well, did it work?” Wendy asks.

“I’m not sure…” Roy utters.

“Luigi? Are you there?” Larry calls.

“Can ya’ hear us?” Morton asks.

“Luigi, it’s us. Lord Bowser’s kids,” Iggy states.

“Yeah! Don’t be scared, Luigi. It’s just us,” Junior says.

“Are you alive?” Lemmy asks.

No response.

“I guess not,” Roy says.

“What? How is this possible?” Wendy asks, “Were we, like, too late to revive him or something?”

“I don’t know… Ludwig, how long has it been since Luigi passed?”

“It has been-“

But before the blue-haired Koopa can finish his answer, everyone jumps back in fear and falls flat on their bottoms from the sound of violent pounding coming from underneath the ground.

“What the hell is this? What’s going on? _Where am I?!”_

“I don’t believe it. He’s alive!” Morton announces.

_“Help! Somebody! Helllpp!!! I’ve been buried alive!!!”_

“Oh my goodness, I think he’s having a panic attack!” Wendy says.

“He’s suffocating in there!” Iggy states.

“Quick! Everyone, dig him out! _Now!”_ Roy orders.

Everyone then extends their long, sharp claws and, as fast as their hands can possibly work, scrape and scratch away the dirt and soil.

“Okay, the hole is re-dug!” Ludwig states.

“Good. Alright, come on, everybody. _Pull!”_ Roy instructs.

“Teamwork, everyone! Teamwork!” Wendy announces.

With every bit of strength that the seven, young Koopas contain inside their muscles and bones, they haul Luigi’s coffin back up to the surface of Earth.

They then brush away the excess dirt and pry the top off, ripping it right off the hinges.

“G- Guys?”

In only a split second, everybody cheers and crowds around the green plumber as they heave him out of his death chamber.

“Luigi! Oh my goodness, I can’t believe it! _You're alive!”_ Roy exclaims.

“Oh, how we missed you Luigi!” Wendy says, hugging the plumber as tears of pure joy and happiness fall from her eyes.

“W- What’s going on, guys?” Luigi asks, still flabbergasted and stricken with anxiety.

“You were dead, Luigi!” Roy says.

“I was? F- For how long?”

“For about a week and a half,” Ludwig states.

“A _week_ and _a half?!”_

“Yeah! But don’t worry, we all rescued you!” Lemmy says, as he embraces the plumber’s side.

Returning the hug, Luigi also squints his eyes and frantically looks around in the dark.

“Where’s Bowser?”

“He’s back at the castle,” Iggy says, “He doesn’t know that we’re here.”

“We’re gonna surprise him,” Roy says.

The green plumber stares up at the group of Koopas and grins from ear to ear, saying nothing more on the subject.

“C’mon. Let’s head back before dad finds out that we’re not there.”

  


* * *

  


Daylight has finally reached The Koopa Kingdom. The morning sun beams ever so brightly and rests high above the horizon.

The royal Koopalings and their king’s revived lover sneak back through the palace doors.

Fortunately for them, the soldiers that guard both sides of the front gates haven’t made it to their post yet.

“Alright, just wait right here, Luigi,” Roy orders, positioning the plumber a foot away from the entrance, “And we’ll go get dad.”

The Koopalings then crowd their way upstairs and bang on Bowser’s door.

“Wake up, dad!” Roy exclaims.

“Daddykins! Wake up! It’s morning time!” Wendy says cheerfully.

They hear their father roll over and groan.

“Kids. Go away. Daddy still wants to be left alone.”

“No, dad. You have to get up!” Larry states.

“Yeah, dad! Someone’s here to see ya’!” Morton mentions.

“Someone special!” Lemmy adds.

“And they _really_ need to talk to you, papa!” Junior says.

Bowser groans louder and then grumbles to himself. “Who the hell needs to talk with me at 7:30 in the damn morning? Doesn’t everyone know how depressed I am? Ugh, this better be pretty damn important.”

Eventually, the provoked king stomps over and swings his bedroom door wide open.

He stares down at his children with very bushed, tearful, and bloodshot eyes.

Huge tufts of facial hair has sprouted around his jaw and snout, dirty and greasy looking from lack of showering.

The stench wafting from his room is none too pleasant either.

“Well, who is it? Who needs to talk to me?”

“They insisted on talking with you downstairs,” Roy says, taking his dad by the hand and practically dragging him out of his room, “C’mon!”

Bowser rolls his eyes, clearly disgusted and already done waiting around for an answer he wants to hear, and asks, “Come on, kids. Can’t you just tell me who’s here?”

“Well father, if we told you who it was, then it wouldn’t be a surprise!” Ludwig expresses, pushing on his father shelled backside.

“I don’t like surprises,” Bowser irritatingly states.

“Well, you’ll like this one, daddykins. Just trust us,” Wendy insists.

As Bowser tromps down off of the last step, he states aloud with his head still facing down at the floor, “I apologize that I took so long to get down here. You probably can see that I am not in the best of-“

“Bowser?”

The beast slowly looks up.

The life returns inside his pupils. His mouth hangs open, as a permanent smile steadily spreads across his muzzle.

He realizes why it was so important that he should wake up today.

There he is. His boyfriend. His one and only. His soulmate. Standing in the archway to his castle.

“Luigi?!”

“Bowser!”

The plumber and the beast then practically fly up towards each other, as Bowser lifts his man up to his level with both arms and gives him a humongous bear-hug, squeezing him tightly against his untrimmed chest and excessively smooching his cheeks.

“Luigi, I don’t believe it! You’re _alive!_ But, how?”

“Your kids used your last Life Mushroom to revive me!”

Bowser turns to his kids, “I thought I had used all of them!”

They all grin and shake their heads.

“I love you guys all _so_ much! This was the nicest thing you all have ever done for me!”

“Well, we can't take full credit," Ludwig mentions.

"Nope. It was _all_ Roy's idea," Wendy reveals.

Bowser looks down at Roy.

“I love you, dad.”

“I love you too, son,” Bowser replies, rubbing Roy’s pink, scaly, bald head, “Thank you so much for everything. I won’t _ever_ forget what you have done for me.”

“You’re welcome, dad. Anything to make you and Luigi happy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys catch it? The combination of the safe? I'll give you a hint, it's a date pertaining to a certain Mario character... ;)
> 
> Also, this story is _not_ over yet. There should be one, maybe two, more chapters left.


End file.
